Roughing it in Charleston, SC

I'm in Charleston for Blackbaud's Conference on Philanthropy. Already I've had an incredible time!

• Saturday, the US Airways folks in Portland, ME kindly put me on a United flight to make sure I got to Charleston in time. The airlines worked together! That seems like a miracle.


• Then I met a brand new believer in O'Hare that was coming to this conference! We had a great talk about things ranging from Jesus and Judaism to Christians and the arts.


• Then I found out I had been put in First Class by the Portland folks! So cool.


• In first class, I got into a wonderful conversation with the passenger across the aisle. Turns out he was a senior official in South Carolina government and a creator of businesses I've heard about. He invited me to his church, St. Andrews.


• I didn't see him at St. Andrew's but that didn't surprise my, he'd just flown in from Beijing! But I did have a wonderful time worshipping with the folks at St. Andrew's. I was even taken in by a family. Paul and Ellen have kids similar to our kids age and had familiarity with Augusta, Maine! They ended up taking me out to lunch and showing me around Mt. Pleasant.


• In the afternoon, I attended a terrific pre-conference seminar about marketing planned giving. It's so nice to hear someone else stress the things I stress in my teaching: relationships, asking people when they want to be asked and what they're interested in, and using research to be a more relational fundraiser. (I actually thought he might have heard my CDE program!)


• Then last night, after a lavish reception hosted by Blackbaud, I went to a Sara Groves, Chris Rice, and Jars of Clay! What an incredible concert. I've used Sara Groves in a sermon a few months ago. Chris Rice's "I'm Smelling Coffee" inspired the URL of this blog. And I'm inspired by Jars of Clay's focusing on being great artists for the King.

So, here I am, roughing it in Charleston, SC. *grin*