24tv_7The following happens between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

As I sat at my computer waiting for Jacob to get ready, I wondered how in the world I was going to connect my son with the person or persons that were trying to stop the Innovative Church Conference. Why would anyone want do this? It was a puzzle I couldn’t crack. What was the motive?

I opened up my Gmail account and started reviewing messages that had come in through the day. There were messages from Corey Mann, Kem Meyer, Jason Powell, Mark Waltz and Mr. Joseph Abudulkarim Adisa a son to Minister of Works and Housing of the Federal of Nigeria. Good news there, by the way. Mr. Adisa wants to make arrangements to transfer $25 million into our building fund account.

Then I noticed there was a message from someone at the Willow Creek Association. It read:

I’ve heard about your situation today. We faced a similar crisis this year with the Leadership Summit. Someone claiming to be Marcus Buckingham took Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins and Bill Hybels hostage. The guy was trying to prevent us from offering this year’s Summit. We finally found all three tied up on Bill’s boat. Does Mark Beeson own a boat? If so, I’d look there first.

Your friend,
Jimmy Mellado

P.S. – I really love the blog. Bill, Gene Appel, Nancy Beach and I frequently just sit around eating leftovers from the Willow cafeteria and talking about your insightful ministry strategies.

Well, I have to admit, there did happen to be several similarities between our situation and that faced earlier this year by the Willow team. Only problem is that Mark Beeson doesn’t own a boat. Being a hunter, though, he does own a deer stand. Do you think it’s possible that the hostages are being held there?

With that small lead, Jacob and I headed out the door to see if we could track down the hostages and save this year’s conference. We both got in the car, I turned on the ignition and then I realized that Jacob and I were not the only ones in the vehicle…