Forward 2023 Day Three

We had a really full day here at Forward Conference.  I had some small involvement today, providing the voice of a robot on stage that we called Cyber Simon.  He basically gave the instructions to a massive game of Simon Says amongst the Tribes, with each winner getting points for various tasks like a massive game of golf, or splitting the entire Tribe in two ("Part the Sea!").  

You can see some points being given here for doing the Macarena.  Yes, that happened.  It was a pretty random and hilarious moment as the entire arena was doing the Macarena.

Immediately I thought of "Hotel Transylvania 3," but maybe that's just me.  Anyway, the games are fun as always, as are the crazy videos.  Maddie had a great time, and was even filming some of them as the conference went on.  The bus ride down was better - the students were tired, but ready for another big day.

This set was so astounding.  There were moments it had this synth wave look that was just captivating.  The worship was great this morning, and the space between services was a little shorter, so the students all went out afterwards to the lawn area.  There was a lot of pizza available for Maddie and the other students, and that was a bit much on the pizza for us, so I got Maddie and a few friends over to a food truck where we all got some other choices.  We sat on the lawn in the shade eating lunch, waiting to get back in for the final sessions of the day.  That was a bit chaotic, but it all worked out - Skylar's mom saved Maddie and her friends a few seats way up front, so she got to head up that way for the final portion of the Forward Conference. 

It was amazing, of course.  Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes were there for worship, which was unforgettable, and really kind of iconic.  But the worship set was reminiscent of "the old days" for some of us, just a free flowing sort of service that led nicely into the message portion of the night, when "Uncle Reggie" came up to speak a message that had us all screaming, "He won't!"

It was a powerful time.  Smoney won the Tribe Wars, but the worship and message and altar service afterwards will be the things we remember most.  I was so glad and honored to be able to sit there amongst the crowd, just resting and enjoying the service.  As a child of a staff member, Maddie was surrounded by people in the audience nearby who prayed for her as directed.  It was an unforgettable service.

Yes, even Spider-man thought so.  Seriously though, Maddie and her friend that she invited both enjoyed it very much and want to go back next year of course.  Maddie got some t-shirts here as souvenirs, about three of them.  I got Maddie and her friend some volunteers shirts as souvenirs.

We got home safely after helping unload things back at the main campus and dropping off the other kids.  We went home after that, and we were certainly a bit tired.  Mom had some dinner for us, because Mom is amazing, and after that we were playing "The Lone Ranger," because why not?  It was a great day, but we were off to bed early tonight.  We don't have to get up as early as the last two days, but it's still earlier and man, we're pretty wiped out!  We read from "Life, the Universe and Everything," and then said our prayers.  And then, we were off to sleep!