Greetings Scholars and Warriors.
This year I’ve been busy with writing a new book and dating a lovely young lady. I apologize for so little blog content. My focus went to my next book and planning for the one after that. But I did make several cons this summer.
I did have a table in artist alley at JAFAX and they allowed us space to host a Chapel on Sunday morning at 9. This early time slot allowed vendors to attend and at least 2 took that opportunity. Some new connections were made that con and we had a great time. The message this year was about how Jesus discussed treasure. I used the anime One Piece to look at it which fit really well. About 16 people came for chapel. I also met people at the table who wanted to discuss faith. One of them came to the chapel right as it ended, and we talked as we walked. He asked me about the difference between religion and faith. Religion is often about impressing God. That is why some go to church out of obligation and others are boastful about good works. Faith is about trusting Him. You see this when people approach church with expectation and interest. When they come with sincere questions and prayerfully and sacrificially give with joy and pleasure.
Gen Con is always a rush with lots of things going on and lots of fun. I ran games this year to earn my badge but also to contribute to the community and meet people. That included games like Wyrmspan, Commissioned, Unmatched and Star Wars the Clone Wars. Our Christianity and Gaming Panel went quite well. Each panelist had at least one question they seemed a perfect fit to answer. The con put our worship service in a smaller room this year so several people were in the lobby wanting to get in that could not do so. I recorded the message and posted it to YouTube so people could see it later. Tom Vasel always preaches at this event and I host and handle the background details. He preached on forgiveness this year.
GrandCon had year 10 this year! This was a little different than normal. The cost of booths is fairly high now so instead of having a booth I ran games. I ran 8 game sessions with Unmatched and the G.I. Joe Deck Building Game published by Renegade; I also ran Deliverance and Ezra & Nehemiah. My girlfriend helped me pull together some goody bags to hand out to gamers who participated in these games and we also gave some to the worship team for the chapel. The bags did work as an invitation to our Nerd Chapel on Sunday morning. Dave Celeskey from Unity Reformed Church in Norton Shores, MI gave the message. I normally do the message for GrandCon but once in a while I’ll have someone else do it to bring in another voice. He taught about restoration of relationships with 2 Samuel 14.
I also attended the Fall edition of the Game Changer Retreat at Camp Living Waters. I had attended the Spring retreat so I had an idea of what I was going into. The table for Nerd Chapel was mostly unnoticed; even though I had a moment to tell the crowd about Nerd Chapel at the welcome meeting. The weekend was full of great fellowship and connections over games. I taught a game of Ezra and Nehemiah and played 5 games I had not played before. It was a great time.