Dallas the rock star

I am at a Building Spiritual Formation Communities conference in Long Beach. I have met some wonderful people. Heard from Dallas Willard twice yesterday. Once in a keynote; once in a luncheon. There are about 1500 people here looking for ways to be present with God and opening up to the power of the Holy Spirit. No church growth seminars, no “my church has this program and we reached 20% more Latino marathon runners, so buy this book” or whatever. In the midst of this, Dallas is the rock star. His personality being the exact opposite of a rock star, it works out just fine.

I remember he was speaking at a Christian college to a thousand students in Minnesota and I happened to be there with Faithinkubators and so I brought Melheim to meet Dallas. After his talk, we waited in a line where he was speaking to students, autographing books if they desired.

Each 20-something kid was telling Dallas how their life had changed after reading his books, and they were on the path of moving from being a Christian (fire insurance to make sure I get to heaven) to being a disciple (partnering with Jesus in his Kingdom living now, where I am about doing what Jesus would do if he were me in any given situation). When I got to him, I said, loud enough for all the students around to hear,

“Could you just sign my hand and then I will never wash it off and cherish it forever!!”

Dallas started laughing, grabbed me and said, “I’ll sign something, you knucklehead!”

Well, every keynote speaker, every workshop leader, conversations in the Jacuzzi, elevator, lobby, you name it, you hear “Dallas” so much you think you are back in a Superbowl year with Troy Aikman and Emmit Smith The number of leaders who have been transformed through God’s Word working through Dallas is amazing. The fruits of this in American Christianity will be seen for decades to come. Maybe longer…

It isn’t just America, however. From lunch, Dallas left for the airport to fly to Budapest to meet with Eastern European leaders. He has been impacting Great Britain for quite some time and so we will see what transpires on the continent.

Pray for this man of God that he has the energy and health to continue doing what comes natural and easy through the Spirit. Sharing Jesus.