Back in the Saddle

So here I am. My apologies -when we went away, I found myself without Internet (at least, the free variety), so I had to store it all up.

Where did I go? Here:

The El Conquistadore Resort in lovely Tuscon, AZ. It was backed up against some mountains:

Why did I go to this place (Oh Ye of multiple questions)? The Ravishing Mrs. TB went to see this lady:

That is Jill Blashack Strahan, founder and CEO of Tastefully Simple, Inc. for which the Ravishing Mrs. TB is a consultant. Me, I went because I was invited and there was food involved.

It was interesting, because this was the first conference (or class, for that matter) that I have been to in a very long time where I truly was simply a guest, with no expectations or agenda to learn. Just an observer.


But fun none the less. The interesting thing to me, as an observer, was how different this was as a company meeting from other formats I am typically used to. Yes, I know that sales folk live a different life than us commoner (Otis, you may now bow), but there was a sense of bonding and purpose there, a sense of belief in the product, in the founder, in each other, and in what they were doing that was palpable.


As you probably know, I am always trying to take these experiences and integrate them into my Christian walk and commentary, because I really do believe that in many ways the Church (generic, please fill in denomination here) falls short of its ability to impact the world. One observation I have was that the (mostly) women that left this meeting were fired up, ready to go. I am hard pressed to think of a church service recently where the same could be said. (Otis, you?).


The other thing, special to this conference, was their motif of an Oasis. As part of the the presentation, they walked through an Anagram (no, I don't remember it and it's probably proprietary) of Oasis. But they were using essentially spiritual (not necessarily Christian) terms: make people aware of their thirst, show them where the water is, lead them by example, and equip them.

Funny - isn't that the Christian message? How come they got it and we don't?

Now now Toirdhealbheach (I hear you say), isn't that incorporating the world's methods into our message? After all, they're selling a product - we are talking about the eternal souls of men and women?

Granted. And you'll find no greater believer of not changing the message or watering it down than I. But at the same time, those women (and a few men) left with purpose, vision, an understanding of what was expected of them, and what the rewards were for their effort.

How about a more personal tone: If the church can't communicate it, why can't I?