Weekend of Wonder
February 25-27, 2022
Rev. Ben Brown is the Minister of Students at Second Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. Ben is a native of Virginia and has degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (BTSR), and is a DMin candidate at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is married to Courtney, and they have two boys, Carter and Harrison. Ben loves college basketball, faith conversations, and learning new things. During our WOW weekend, he will specifically lead the youth sessions on Saturday.
Adults will have the opportunity to select two breakout sessions out of seven selections. These will focus on a wide variety of topics and experiences because we know that each person experiences awe, joy, and wonder in different ways. The areas of focus are: science, photography, art, music, sports, movement and meditation, and poetry.
“My name is Nate Staniforth. I’m a magician and the author of Here is Real Magic. My dangerous idea requires just a little bit of context. The short version is that you should set your alarm and stay up tonight, go outside, and watch the night sky. You should lose yourself in it. Let me explain why I think this is important. If you are anything like me, it’s very easy to get lost in the day to day business of living. I have seen the stars and seen the night sky so many times that it’s so easy to just ignore it and take it for granted. But, recently, I walked outside to take the trash can and put it by the street for the truck to take it away in the morning and, for some reason, I stopped and just stood there and looked up at the sky. It just knocked me down. It had been a long time since I’d ever done that deliberately and it just stretched up forever. Immediately, all of the things that I was worried about, I was no longer worried about them. It’s like time stood still for a second.”
― Nate Staniforth