While in Portland for the latest Q conference in April I had a few minutes with one of the participants who has also been a speaker at many Christian conferences around the country. We had not seen each other in a couple of years and I wanted to catch up – and hoped he did as well. As we talked he made a funny comment about being one of the “carnies” that move around from show to show on the circuit. While they all travel separately (unlike the circus) they all seem to end up at the same conferences together. Carnies call it running a “joint” (a booth), a “grab joint” (food booth), a game or a ride. Different town – same players.
Being in the business of doing conferences started me thinking about how much truth there is to that. Arthur Koestler wrote a book titled “The Call Girls” about a small group of academics who show up on the same foundation and university-sponsored conferences year after year around the world to give their papers, answer questions and move on to the next venue. High class carnies. A friend who did lots of Christian conferences once described it as getting on a plane, not knowing anyone, being picked up by someone you don’t know, speaking to people you’ll never see again, being driven to the airport by a new someone you don’t know, and coming back to a family you stopped knowing years ago – only to turn around two days later and repeat the cycle. Sounds like life with Jackson Browne doesn’t it?