Tickle (and) Me

I hate talking about last week as though it is breaking news…

A few days after returning from my DC/NYC adventures, I attended a conference for east coast pastors connected to the Evangelical Covenant Church. The conference was held at a retreat/conference center that I have grown quite fond of and the keynote speaker was Phyllis Tickle. Tickle is regarded as one of the most respected authorities and popular speakers on religion in America. She is also one of the more prominent voices contributing to the emerging Christianity conversation.

After reading Tickle’s book, The Great Emergence, I already knew that I would enjoy whatever she had to say. But I was not anticipating how lively and hilarious this seventy-five-year-old woman with a southern accent would be in person. Her depth of knowledge about the sociology of religion, and how every five hundred years the Christian Church goes through a massive upheaval, was made all the more impressive by her ability to balance it all with humor and witty social commentary.

I became so enamored with Phyllis that I just had to get my picture taken with her. I'm also proud to say that we are friends on Facebook (I told you she was cool) and that she has since been a tremendous source of encouragement to me.

Although hearing from and becoming friends with Phyllis was certainly a highlight, it wasn’t the most significant thing to occur last week. The details I don’t find appropriate to share by this medium, but suffice it to say that it has something to do with the girl standing on the other side of Phyllis.