New York, New York....Day 4

Great day! Started with breakfast at Pop Diner with Chuck and the EHS Consultant, Doug Slaybaugh. He's the guy who has been talking with me about both current and future involvement as EHS develops organizationally. Good guy. He and Chuck have actually known each other for many years.

After breakfast, today's Conference sessions started at noon. Pete & Geri have added some fresh material to the Conference. Actually, every year has some fresh material to it. There are probably 250+ Pastors and church leaders here from all over the nation. There are even a few folks here from the UK, Germany, Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia.

Pete talked some today about how the body of Christ is so vast, and that even though there is a divide between the Eastern Church and the Western Church, we all come from the same "family of origin" that started way back in Acts 2. What a concept!

They dealt tonight with what I think is one of the most powerful and largest concepts of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality...a concept called "differentiation". It has to do with one being able to stand on your own two feet, confident in who you are, and able to declare that to the people closest to us, regardless of what they think, and then still remain in relationship with them. It is a LARGE and powerful issue that we ALL deal with. It's just that some of us deal with it by NOT dealing with it, thereby continuing to live in patterns of unhealthy relational patterns.

Had the opportunity to talk at length with some leaders from an Evangelical Free Church in Michigan, a Presbyterian Church in Delaware and a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in Manhattan. All of these leaders are trying to figure out how to put feet to the principles of EHS in their own lives, as well as the life of their churches.

What a privilege to be able to share my journey and OUR journey as a church family. Tomorrow, I get to participate in a Q&A session during the lunch hour to share more and answers questions. For those who are a part of NewHeart, I get to talk about YOU! Cool, huh? It's all good, don't worry!

Catch this.....the Pastor from Manhattan lives in an 1,100 square foot apartment (there are no owned homes on Manhattan) and the rent is $3,150 a month! Commonly, rent on Manhattan for similar apartments can cost $4,000-5,000 a month, with the more expensive neighborhoods costing upwards of $10,000-12,000 per month!!! For RENT!!

The final day of this year's Conference is tomorrow. Already have a dinner appointment with some New York friends, then heading down to Time Square (my favorite Manhattan site) for one final look on this trip and souvenirs for the boys. Blog at ya tomorrow!