Sunday night update

Well, I'm through the first three days here in Cape Town. Friday and Saturday were all day business meetings, working on the nitty gritty details of the Cape Town 2010 congress. These were very important meetings and focused on the technical team (tv, sound, staging, etc.) working with the program team. Lots of good vibrant debate about various options and what will work best to bring together the 4000 leaders who will attend and allow them to dialog in some really cool ways.

Today (Sunday) began with worship. A few of us decided to go to Hillsong South Africa. If you listen to Hillsong music, then you know the church. The mother church is in Australia of course. But they have a church plant in London and in Cape Town. As one might expect, the worship was fantastic (see picture). They actually meet in the Convention Center. So it doubled as an opportunity to see the facility we will use next year in use.

The afternoon was occupied with a "rally" for all the churches in the Cape Town basin at City Hall. It was a chance for them to learn more about Lausanne and the Congress in one year. Many of them will help house delegate who can't afford hotel rooms. They will also be providing many other services. It was a great time, highlighted by a very well done "dance" by a group from one of the churches that describes themselves as a prophetic dance team. Also the deputy mayor of Cape Town greeted us. See the picture of the front row which was many of us from the organizing committee for Cape Town 2010.

The evening ended with a dinner with African leaders from all over the continent who are the host council for the Congress. It is a tremendous group of men and women who are the top leaders in Africa amongst the evangelical churches.

Tomorrow we have more meetings with our African leaders. Pray for unity and vision as we pray for what God wants to happen next year.

God bless,
Elliott