I was in Washington DC last week to cover our organization’s winter conference. It’s an annual gathering of our pastors and missionaries, alternately held in Jacksonville, Florida, where it’s hosted by Southpoint Community Church, and in Chantilly, Virginia, where it’s hosted by Grace Covenant Church both members of Every Nation Churches. This year’s was in Chantilly.

My flight left an overcast, cloudy Nashville on Tuesday, pushing its way through thick, gray clouds until we found this view.

We landed in the dark around six at night. Too bad my iPad couldn’t take pictures of the beautiful lighted cityscapes of DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

Pastor Brett Fuller hosted the welcome reception for guests at Grace Covenant, and shared a brief message to open the conference. He preached out of Luke 1 from the account of Elizabeth becoming pregnant with John and how her husband Zechariah’s mouth was closed and prevented from speaking because of his doubt. In a nutshell, Pastor Brett’s message was about the power of our speech and how we need to watch what we confess. God allowed Zechariah to be mute for a season because his speech would have been negative and doubt-filled.

It was a good reminder to speak faith over a situation, i.e. from Paul, “pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.”

The following morning, guests boarded two buses for Mount Vernon for a tour of George Washington’s estate.

I skipped the evening trip to Ford’s Theater for A Christmas Carol because I didn’t have a ticket, and ended up having dinner instead with new friends from one of our Every Nation churches in Memphis. This is who I got to know well that evening at Eggspectations — Pumpkin Roll.

It called my name from behind the cold glass.

We had more free time the following day after the morning session and before the Christmas party, so my new friends, Ariel and Rose Untal, and I headed to downtown DC for a quick look at the sites. We didn’t see much. Roads were blocked for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and a World AIDS Day program, but I did get a photo of some building.

As soon as I get a hold of all the audio from the Winter Conference, I’ll have them posted on our podcast site.

It may not have been an exotic location but I’m so thankful for the break in my routine. And while it was for work and not play, I love being able to spend time with our pastors and missionaries.