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OK, this is my last post on the NYWC. Monday was actually pretty simple. We woke up late, packed the room up, put everything in the car, had a breakfast at a diner that is still making me fart, and went to the last general session.

We found great seats in the 6th row and really enjoyed the last session. Carl, Chris, Mel, Jessica, and I enjoyed sitting together through the whole conference and this was no exception. Lost and Found were very silly and fun as usual. Starfield was amazing though they probably need more songs. Marko did a great job ending things with a push for humility, and then Starfield came back to end the whole thing "super fun." We sang one more song and everyone was bouncing around and dancing and having fun.

After everything was said and done I finally got a chance to meet Marko face to face, had lunch with Chris and Carl, and then took Carl to the airport before driving home.

Bonus content!

Here are my impressions of NYWC now that I’m home:

Though I would
have preferred more YM speakers (Marko and Chris Folsom were the most
specific IMO) I was satisfied greatly by the Saturday speakers. I was
encouraged!
I went alone but I was never alone when I didn’t
want to be. The YMX crew and my grad class crew were incredible to hang
out with. Seriously, if you are ever going to YS, and you are alone…
find the YMX group and chill with them. We were very intentional about
inviting. We worked together to get good seats for every session, etc.
The seminars I made it to were fantastic. Honestly, I only went to 2 but they were both good!
Since
I spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall working on stuff for my grad
class… I can say that the exhibitors were nice, professional, and not
that pushy. If you just politely told them "no thanks" you could
actually get a nice conversation out of them. And if people are
interested I’ll probably post my work when I’m done.
NYWC volunteers rock. I’m not sure I’d like to be one, but I really respected them for their service.
I
liked Starfield and Crowder. (Leeland on Thursday night was fantastic)
The lady from Sixpence was pretty cool, Jars was fun, I skipped Toby
Mac… and all the other stage talent rocked. Horn guy, the
illusionists, comedians, etc. Lots of fun.
But I think the #1
thing that sticks out to me is that I felt no pressure to go to
anything I didn’t want to. There were times when a speaker was "OK" and
in my world I would have had to force myself to pay closer attention…
but I could just whip out the laptop and work on something else and no
one seemed to care.

Here are my top 3 moments:
- Spin cycle: As usual, they brought someone to NYWC who
couldn’t afford to come for one reason or another. When they brought
Linda on stage they asked her about "the spin cycle." She explained
that she had told her students that they needed to wait until marriage
before sex. But then she affirmed them that once they were married they
could do it anywhere, including on the washing machine during the spin
cycle. I snorted.
- The closing with Starfield: It was a lot of fun and a crazy way to end. 3000 people screaming and bouncing is always fun. I snorted.
- The illusionists:
I’m not into magic, but these guys were funny while doing "illusions."
The one with the lighter will make it into a talk somehow. I snorted.