Wind and worship

WICHITA, KAN. — I won’t say Sunday was windy, but I’m pretty sure I saw Dorothy and Toto’s farmhouse swept up along Interstate 35.

Despite high wind warnings and plummeting temperatures on my 400-mile route, I got up early to drive to the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.

About 160 miles north of my home in Oklahoma City, I stopped for worship at the Northside Church of Christ in Wichita.

Toby Levering preaches at the Northside Church of Christ in Wichita, Kan.

“Maybe you didn’t intend to be here, but you’re from Nebraska, and you just blew in,” preaching minister Toby Levering said in greeting the crowd of 500.

I blew in from the opposite direction, but Levering’s astute observation made me chuckle.

I first met him back in 2015 when I did a feature on the Wichita Work Camp, an annual service-oriented event sponsored by the Northside church.

I enjoyed seeing Levering again and meeting a few of Northside’s elders, including Brian Middleton, who is active with the church’s Know Your Bible ministry, which began as a 30-minute TV program and is now a 24/7 resource online.

I missed saying hi to Mark Yeakley, Northside’s involvement minister and son of the late Flavil Yeakley, a church growth expert who was always extremely helpful to me in my Christian Chronicle reporting.

Mark Yeakley, who didn’t know I planned to visit, had to run to a missions committee meeting right after the service ended.

Related: Small churches find right fit at Equip

“Stop by again as soon as the wind changes direction!” he urged in a Facebook comment.

Mike Cope, Equip’s keynote speaker, was supposed to fly from Dallas to Omaha, Neb., and then drive 100 miles to York. 

But flights got canceled Sunday, and he didn’t make it until dinnertime Monday.

“It took a little doing to get here,” Cope, director of ministry outreach for Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., told Equip attendees Tuesday. “American Airlines pilots were not convinced that they wanted to land in 65 mph winds in Omaha.”

Mike Cope speaks at the Equip Conference at York University in Nebraska.

I don’t know which was louder on my drive to York: the howling outside my car windows or the country music I played to drown out that noise.

Somewhere near the Kansas-Nebraska line, I stopped at a Love’s Travel Stop to fill up my gas tank.

My car door slammed shut as I stepped into the storm, and I immediately feared my glasses might blow off my head. Somehow I managed to pull the door open again and place them inside.

I made it safely to my hotel late Sunday afternoon. After checking in, I headed to a nearby Walmart to buy a few snacks and a pair of gloves.

I’ve heard that Jesus can calm the wind. 

I credit him for doing just that. I awoke Monday to 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside — according to my car dashboard — but a much tamer gust. 

Kailyn Ruckman, right, and other students at York University in Nebraska pray during a chapel assembly at the Equip Conference.

I had a blast reporting on Equip and relished a peaceful drive home.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at [email protected].

Filed under: calm the storm Equip Conference Inside Story Kansas National Nebraska Opinion Top Stories travel York University