I entered Allume in this posture…arms wide out, eyes closed, heart to heaven…and I have to be honest and say I’m feeling pretty much the same way here on the other side of it.
For well over a year I spent hours, days, weeks, and months investing in speakers, sponsorship partners, attendees, and the Allume team, and I just hoped and prayed that in the end that it would matter to people, and would be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
The past few days as I’ve tried to process all that happened, I find myself arms wide and face to heaven again. I am overwhelmed by all that God did. The way He moved, invited, and changed hearts all around me. I’m astounded that He allows me to sow into his children in this way…into his sons and daughters…into His Kingdom.
“But Lord,” I’ve cried over and over until I’m tired of hearing and saying it myself… “Who am I?”
“You’re my daughter…same as all the women who come…no different…I just want to know if you’ll do this if I ask you.”
“Yes…” I’ve said it aloud to the air, whispered quiet in the heavens, wrestled deep in my soul. “Yes Lord… I don’t know what you want, or how I can help you, but I’ll do what you ask. Please just tell me what to do… I have no interest in just manufacturing another event. I only want this if it means we all get more of you.”
And it wasn’t. It wasn’t another event.
Allume was a convening of souls… a meeting of kindreds…a splaying out of our innards for the King of Kings, and an invitation set forth for Him to come and invade all we think we are and to transform all we think we are not.
We are masterpieces of the ultimate creative… the opus magnum of a heavenly composer…we are his workmanship, and He invited us to join Him at His table this past weekend at Allume.
Months ago, the Lord gave us Revelation 3:20 for this year’s conference…”Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
We listened. He knocked. We opened and invited Him in… and we communed with Him for days.
A life of invitation begins in the soil of a heart cultivated by the love of the Father, and oh how he loved on us this weekend.
And so still, I stand humbled…arms wide in awe of the one who spread His arms open for us. My own heart stretched out as He reaches and beckons us to partake in the ultimate invitation He extends of His own life.
What other posture is there but this?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Humbled do have done this work beside you. Arms wide open, still. Love you, sweet friend!
Love you Mandy…. and what a gift you are to me my friend… a gift to this whole community. eternally thankful for the way you open your arms to heaven too.
Amen. As you said…words aren’t adequate to describe just what God did — I’ve never come away from Allume so full. Each one grew upon the next and He just keeps one-upping it. I am incredibly humbled and thankful to be a part of this community and to serve in this way. Thank you, sweet Logan. xoxo
I was talking about Allume today and trying to describe it. I finally looked at her and said “it’s the place I go every year now to help me reconnect with God and to reconnect with me.” You , Logan, are a daughter of The Lord with a huge heart, an open door to everyone, and a light in this crazy world. Thank you for the amazing community and for your love of Jesus and God and for obeying even when you want to run away.
Yes – I believe you did God’s work this weekend. It was a beautiful time of worship and renewal, connections and new opportunities. I am not sure if I will be able to attend next year so I just soaked it all in and walked away with a full heart, Thank you for working so hard when it might have been easier to walk away! May God bless you in a rich way friend!
“Allume was a convening of souls… a meeting of kindreds…a splaying out of our innards for the King of Kings, and an invitation set forth for Him to come and invade all we think we are and to transform all we think we are not.” Absolutely. The best description of what we all just experienced. Thanks for summing it up.
This! All of this! Thank you for your yes, for your pouring out of yourself, your hospitality that made Allume all that is was… not just another event. I am standing right there with you… “humbled…arms wide in awe of the one who spread His arms open for us.”
Yes!! As a newbie I didn’t know whatvyonexlect but came home feeling fuller then I ever imagined possible. Thank you 🙂
Still soaking and marinating in all the goodness. I don’t yet know what it all means or how it will change me. I do know I called the gal at Harris Teeter by her name when she handed me my receipt. Thank you for being an example of how to honor others. Love you, friend.
What other posture indeed… I am so filled with this experience. Being able to stand with you friend, arms outstretched and inviting Him in ? Pure joy!! Thank you for showing me what LOVE looks like. So honoured to call you friend.
Logan — I felt every bit those arms wide open. Thanks for being who God called you to be and shining bright for his glory. I’m praying I do the same every place I show up!
Love you.
Stacey
Just. Thank you. For inviting us into your living room and serving us up a buffet of goodness and then letting us take what we would and enjoy it as it suited us. For being the kind of humble hostess who makes the preparations but lets the company make the memories. It was so, so good. I am still trying to know what it all means, but I know it was good.
And this right here, sweet sister, is why He knows He can trust you! I wasn’t able to be there in the flesh – this year but I have prayed alongside you and during the weekend and have soaked in the keynotes several times already and oh my goodness how God is raising up a generation through us and under us who will truly taste and see that He is good… and invite everyone in to taste and see it, too! This… this is Kingdom living! Praying for you as you Rest… hear Him singing over you and whispering close, “well done!”
amen.
so, so good. words don’t describe.
I am SO thankful you are a willing vessel. I felt a true absence last year without getting to be with ‘my people.’ It was like drinking sweet water to return and be with you all again.
thank you is not enough.
My mom told me once that when God works revival in hearts, it’s both really hard and really amazing. Because He’s working up the soil. I think that’s kind of what I’m reeling through this week. I’ve had several people ask how the conference was, and my heart is so processing still that I can’t really answer them. I don’t even know how to sum it up or start to tell them yet. Because God is still finding ways to work into the soil of my heart all the stuff of last weekend and turn it into, well, I guess something new. I just keep asking Him “what’s my next yes?” And I know it’s something entirely new. Anyway — thank you, Logan, for being so beautifully faithful to what He has asked you to do in leading Allume. You, and this conference, radiate Him.
Logan, you described the week so beautifully. It was truly life changing for me and the Spirit was so clearly present throughout the conference. Thank you for all your hard work and to everyone who was at Allume. God worked through each heart and it would not have been the same without you there.
Logan, We didn’t get to meet this year at Allume, but I am hoping I can attend next year, so maybe we’ll meet then! This was my first time at Allume, and it was all I had hoped and expected. I just wanted to thank you (and your team) for all you’ve done to prepare for that weekend. All that went into it, all the prayers and calls and planning and tears and sweat and exhaustion. I appreciate it. That weekend was refreshing to my soul. It gave me so much to write about it. And most importantly, it gave me a chance to stop and listen to what God has been whispering to me. I pray that God will bless you abundantly for listening to His calling and being brave enough to go for it. 🙂