This will be the first of many posts in the next few months about the 2006 Tulsa Workshop. The speaker list and schedule are starting to come together. Each evening we’re going to have tag-team keynote speakers, one from Churches of Christ and one from independent Christian Churches. This is one way we’re participating in the larger movement of reconciliation that is taking place between our two tribes.

Since 1906, Churches of Christ and Christian Churches have been officially recognized as two distinct religious groups. This is a shame considering that both groups were birthed out of a unity movement. One hundred years later, there are a number of folks in both groups that are saying that what happened one hundred years ago should have never occurred. We shouldn’t have let our differences of opinion and practice divide us. In 2006, there will be a number of events like the Tulsa Workshop and the NACC where foks from both tribes will get together and declare that we are still part of the same family.

For all my non-Church of Christ/Christian Church readers, please indulge me as I talk about all of this family business and celebrate with me that two groups of Christians who were once divided are starting to come back together. That’s a good thing not only for our two tribes but for the larger Kingdom.

On Thursday night, Chuck Booher and Jeff Walling will speak. On Friday it will be Max Lucado and Bob Russell. On Saturday, Allan Dunbar and Marvin Phillips will rock the house.

If you have any questions about the Workshop, what we’re planning to do, ways you can help spread the word, etc. leave a comment here or email me at wadehodgesATgmail.com. You can also find more info over at www.tulsaworkshop.org. There’s not much going on there now, but it will be hopping before long.