I'm writing this on Day 3, actually, because I was so exhausted when I got home last night that I didn't even crack open the laptop (a relatively rare thing for me), and connectivity at the conference yesterday was not great. Today, however, I've managed to get a decent connection at the conference, so I'm writing while waiting for the beginning of an afternoon workshop (on new media and the online church, as it turns out).

When I came to NWLC, I fully expected, after looking at the lineup of worship artists that were to perform, that my favorite worship leader of the week would be David Crowder--that turned out to be true, pretty much, until last night, when Laura Story did a set. She's the author of "Indescribable," made popular by Chris Tomlin--her version last night was the best I've heard.

Although I haven't exactly been able to put my finger on the reasons why, she struck me as perhaps the most authentic worship leader I've heard in a while. This is not to say that DCB was not authentic, nor that the other folks on the schedule yesterday (Aaron Schust, Chuck Girard, Jeremy Riddle) weren't authentic, but I guess I was just able to connect with God better during her set. That might have as much to do with where I was, spiritually, but whatever the reason, it was a moving set.

After Laura played a few songs, Mac Powell came out with Trevor Morgan, Bethany Olds, Brian Taylor and guess who--Laura Story, on bass (both electric and upright). They played some stuff from Glory Revealed and the new Glory Revealed II, and theirs was also a great set.

Earlier in the day I heard a general session talk by Leonard Sweet ("Be There"), and attended several workshops--one of which was pretty lame (which surprised me); the others were good. I won't tell you which one was the lame one, but the workshops I attended were on ancient/future worship, the technology of art in worship, and biblical perspectives on songwriting. After I've had a chance to review my notes, I'll try write more about the content of those talks.