Sitting in the ECPA inbox this morning:
To Whom It May Concern:
If this email does not apply to you or your role in last weekend’s Christian Book Expo, I sincerely apologize for filling up what may already be a full email box! However, if this email does apply, all I ask is that you please review and forward to anyone you can…any sponsors, authors, publishers, etc that participated or played a part in bringing this amazing event to Dallas.
As you can tell by my opening paragraph, my wife and I attended this weekend’s Christian Book Expo at the Dallas Convention Center. Due to work schedules, we were unable to attend any of the Friday events, and due to a “lazy morning” we didn’t make it down for the morning events Saturday. We arrived at about 11:30, and by the time we got to Hall F and got registered decided it too late to get back to “C” for the presentations by Lee Strobel or Crossway (absolutely love the ESV Bible…the Single Column Reference is the best I’ve found for church service!). We instead decided to just take in everything in Hall F, including several of the book signings and joyfully supporting the various publishers and authors. We took it in all right…we spent most of the afternoon wandering through the hall, and a rough estimate is that we may have left with about 100 pounds of books!!!
It’s kind of funny…we both commented how sorry we were that we didn’t plan more carefully and get in on some of the seminars and presentations. At the same time, we agreed that we had an absolute blast at the Expo, and both thought it one of the best and most blessed days we could remember. A highlight reel for me would definitely include meeting Donald Miller. I read his book “Blue Like Jazz” on a recent trip to Seattle, and after finishing it gave it to a fishmonger that we befriended at Pike Place Fish Market (Jeff was his name). The copy of the book that Mr. Miller signed Saturday is the third I’ve purchased…after giving one away, I decided we needed another to read again, and a third (the autographed copy) to keep in prime condition. Donald Miller seemed like the type of person I’d like to sit down with over a cup of coffee and just talk…about Christianity, the weather…whatever came to mind. Overall though, the highlight of the entire day had to be meeting J.I. Packer. What an absolute honor and humbling experience to meet such a wonderful man of God. The copy of “Knowing God” that he signed will definitely take up a place of honor in our home. My wife has practically worn out her copy of the book, where I as a relative “baby” Christian have yet to graduate to it. I will soon though, and have a feeling it will take on even more significance after meeting Dr. Packer.
Although I wanted to try to let as many people as possible know how much we enjoyed the weekend, my main purpose in writing is to ask about future Expos and to voice my sincere hope that this becomes a regular event. For an annual event to take place in Dallas would be even better, but I guess one step at a time! Just as important as my hope that this is an annual event, I wanted to be sure to thank anyone and everyone involved…sponsors, publishers, authors, volunteers…anybody that played a part in making this an awesome weekend. If we are blessed to see this event return to Dallas, both my wife and I plan to take off as much time as possible and attend whatever sessions we can. We will also do whatever we can to promote the event to friends, family, co-workers…anybody we can think of that would also enjoy what the Christian Book Expo has to offer.
