Nationals 2014

Last week, I wrote about my vacation to Pensacola, FL, with my college group from church. It was awesome, relaxing, and just what I needed to get ready for my next big trip: the annual convention of the National Association of Free Will Baptists. This year, it was in a Fort Worth, TX, and it was a blast. The week was hectic, efficient, and productive—basically the opposite of my Florida trip. But I loved every second it.

The conference always starts on Sunday, but because I work with the kids, I had to be there on Saturday to help set up the room. The problem? We weren’t supposed to get back from Florida until Saturday night. So at 5:00 on Saturday morning, a shuttle picked me up from the beach house and took me to the Pensacola airport to catch a plane.

Until that day, I hadn’t flown in a plane since I was in the seventh grade, and I had never flown alone before. So I was pretty nervous. But the employees were really nice, and before I knew it, I was headed to Atlanta. For those of you who have never been, the Atlanta airport is huge. It’s pretty much like several malls linked together that just happen to have planes flying in and out, too. So my layover there was actually enjoyable. By 2:00, I had made it to Fort Worth and was ready to work.

From the moment I got to the convention center, my week was non-stop. We got the room all set up Saturday night, did a little snack shopping, and went to bed. On Sunday morning, we had our first service. I got the privilege of teaching Sunday School and watching Mason preach during children’s service. It was an exciting morning, and we had a great turnout. Sunday night, we started our Glory Land series with Little Billie, and it all went flawlessly.

For the most part, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday went about the same. We watched competition in the morning, worked crafts and children’s choir in the afternoon, and had service at night. Tuesday night, we got to see Shane and Shane in concert after service, which was really cool. They were very worshipful, and it turned out to be a great concert.

Wednesday night, instead of having children’s service, everyone at the conference came together for one huge, final service. It was very powerful worshipping and hearing God’s word preached with Free Will Baptists from all over who had come to the conference. After service, the children’s choir performed (wonderfully, of course), and then we had the awards ceremony. All the competitors from Cavanaugh did really well. It was great seeing their hard work pay off.

Thursday morning, I rode back with a kind couple from church who had offered me a ride. I had a great time at Nationals, but I was really glad to be home after traveling for two weeks. Now I’m enjoying my last couple of weeks at home, recuperating from Nationals, and getting ready for my big move to Waco. Thank you to everyone who had a part in making Nationals so special this year. It was great getting to see and work with so many friends this past week. And thank you guys for reading this little life update about my trip! I hope you all are doing well, and I’ll see you next week!