Finding the way in San Jose...

My travels in the church have taken me this week to San Jose, California, for the churchwide gathering of Mennonite Church USA. About 6,500 children, youth, and adults are meeting for a week long bash that is equal parts family reunion, worship blowout, trade show, and business sessions.

This morning, as I write, I sit in the main hallway. To my left, a group of 20 children are learning how to drum for peace. All around me, youth are processing the powerful message they have just heard, energized by the some of the best worship arts the church can muster. Everywhere, a sea of Mennonites -- kids from the heartland of America; Asians from urban centers, African-American leaders. There is so much energy and joy.

For 20 years, I have lived with the hope that someday the larger church would visit the West Coast. And while on the one hand, San Jose feels like any other downtown convention center, I have also seen so many of my friends and co-workers in leading roles this week. It is a new day...there is a realization that the Mennonite Church is a transcontinental and transcultural body...and the people who I labor with in the harvest field of Southern California actually do belong.