Well, sorta in review ... she still does the third day of Joyce Meyer's Houston conference Saturday morning. So if you're reading this and the sun hasn't risen yet, get going.

First things first ... Darlene Zschech. What to say there? I've always found her Australian accent a little distracting. Compare Cindy's enunciation of "Salvation is here" with Darlene's and you should understand why. Minor quibble, though. But along the lines of what I first admired about her leading worship was that she's awfully bouncy. That's a good thing. A real good thing, in fact. I'm not sure which iteration of the Hillsong band lineup it was that we had on hand, but where they had a chance to shine a little bit, I'd say they were all very impressive.

Among the particulars from the praise & worship, I liked that the opening was a little bit different than we've normally been treated to at Lakewood. It seems like a Hillsong trademark that the start of something - a song, worship service - is slower than it is at the peak. But with a very gentle opening, we were given a full three or four songs to build to a nice crescendo that had everyone hopping. Also, the audio mix was done nicely. Even if you thought - like I might be excused for thinking - that you were there to see Darlene Zschech, we're really there just to worship and give praise. And the mix didn't really let much stand out, save for one noteworthy bass riff. Mind you, I'll argue the converse of this as being just as enjoyable. My point here is that the style was significantly different than our own native brand. A little variety is a good thing.

For the rest of the night, I'll be the cad and note that the length of the night struck me as a bit much. Survivable, certainly ... and by no means should it deter you. But at an extra hour or so, I'll confess to mentally listing out a few things that might have been trimmed.

Of some note to those following current events, it should be noted that Joyce and crew made reference to the financial accountability page on their website. I've got no point of comparison to note how prominent the mentions (or the page on the website) were before the calls for financial records. But it certainly stood out this time in light of the news.

My last meta-observation, I hope to offer without sounding judgmental. But given the popularity of complaining about large churches and their parishioners for being consumerist in their approach to church, I'd offer the confession that it's hard not to take the point as being directed at Lakewood ... what with it being the absolute largest thing going here in the U.S.A. But after seeing Joyce's roadshow, I think I can safely say there's next-to-nothing consumerist about Lakewood. Friday night, we had shirts being flung everywhere. Various plugs for the traveling resource center. And a sizable portion hitting folks up to partner with Joyce's ministry.

Now, I said I offer that without casting judgment. For one, I think that many critics of consumerism and churches ignore a fair amount of Christ's own ministry. Maybe He didn't fling t-shirts into the audience, but it stands to reason that He had His critics of the way His ministry was promoted. Yes, I said promoted. Therein lie the similarities. Secondly, I certainly don't begrudge the ask for partners or offerings. By any means necessary, we should certainly invest where we're called to build God's storehouse. But after 2.5 hours - and my unwillingness to cut a second from worship being set in stone - I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't wondering where everything was heading 20 minutes before Joyce even got around to preaching. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the clockwork fashion of our own Lakewood schedule. So be it ... I can take that. Ironically, it's an odd reaction on my part when you factor in that many of my Saturdays have me at church from roughly 5pm till 11pm. And on a good day, earlier. OK ... end rant.

Joyce's sermon was a healthy reminder, all at once, of why I'm going to maintain my position of "Not my cup of tea" while at the same time thoroughly enjoyable. She presents wonderfully, she holds your interest constantly, she's never boring, you'll have to break down and laugh sooner or later with her. All for the good. And still, I'm there enduring a handful of garden variety "Estrogen Set" humor points, I'm also finding parts of her message a bit too anti-intellectual: "Reasoning blocks discernment" in this case. Without devolving into some faux-theology debate which would really just pass for a test of one's ability to nitpick, I'll add that the part quoted there didn't quite provoke so much as fell flat with me. I won't argue that we should lean unto our own understanding ... I'm just not quite as gung-ho on dismissing the need to figure some things out. Especially when there's a need to discern something. I'm more than willing to give Joyce the benefit of a doubt that her meaning was innocuous - she did make it a minor point that were were not called to simply shrug off any need to do little more than tell people to "Trust God" in times of need.

Her larger message was far better received. Saturday night was a message on the decisions we make in the dark times of our life (based primarily on Daniel 3). Among the lines that did rest very well with me was that: "It isn't when things are going easy that we make progress." It's in the times that challenge us. I'll refer you to my favorite scene from Evan Almighty for another take on that.

And that's where I'll leave things for now. Might have more to follow up on this during the weekend. For now, discuss among yourselves. If it's not too late, by all means get to Saturday's gig. Otherwise, better luck next year.