This year we were blessed to have a lot of people show up this year: Christine Kerrick, Warren Fitzpatrick, Jesse Hamm, Dave Porta, Geoff Strout, Wayne Cash, Steve Lyles, Clint Johnson and his “son” DeMarcio, Jose Guillen, Ralph Miley and his daughter, Janae, Linda Brown and her daughter, Kendra, Paul Hamerlinck, Buzz Dixon and his wife, Eric Jansen and his nephew, Chris, Richard Haselrig and other people who I’m sure I forgot to mention … This year was indeed a bit different for me. Having been able to man the CCAS table for the better part of four days in previous years, I wasn’t needed as much this year, because of the over abundance of people wanting to man the table this year. Thus, God had other plans for me to walk the floor more this year than I have ever done before. So, in short, I did have fun this year, albeit, a different kind of fun than what I have been accustomed to. I was able to talk to people at their tables, and hopefully was able to be a light for Jesus. Now for the details:
Thursday, July 22
I was awake at 3:30 AM to begin my drive 40 miles northwest to Ralph’s house to load his rental van with the stuff for the Con. After packing, we (and a moving blanket in the back seat, with Janae under it) went to pick up Dave at the Motel he was staying at. After a hearty breakfast at Jack-in-the-Box, we began our journey of 130 miles south to San Diego. We hit traffic on our way down, which contributed us to our missing the 8:00 AM dock union worker’s deadline for them to help us unload our van. Thus, we had to unload our van by hand, making 5 round trips from the van to our small press table. Thankfully, it was not that far away, once inside the building.
Once inside the convention center, we then had to obtain our vendor badges. Someone didn’t put our names for our CCAS table in the computer, so there was a major delay in getting our vendor badges. (There was a mix-up between Christine/Clint’s CCAS table and our CCAS table). However, the guy behind the desk, got tired of listening to our complaints and printed up our badges, probably to get us out of his hair. We were finally in! And so was the general public! That’s right, we were still setting up the table two hours after the Con had already started. God did bless us this year with another corner table this year in the small press section. Also, the Con really put the small press section in the middle of the back entrance which was another blessing. We had more foot traffic than I think we have ever had.
Later that day we checked into our hotel and much to our surprise, it wasn’t quite the “expensive hotel room” we were all paying for. We thought we were going to get a lot more perks for what we had plunked down, but, no, were wrong. It was a fine room, don’t get me wrong, just less than what we thought we were going to get. I was able to talk with Paul for a good hour that afternoon about the artsy book I’d like to do.
Dinner time Thursday night is always one of my favorite times. It is a time to relax and fellowship with my Christian brothers and sister’s over dinner, after a hard first day’s work. And this Thursday night was no different. We took a bus to Horton Plaza which has a bunch of different food places; it’s basically an outdoor mall. We had a great conversation about some video game that Eric’s nephew and Kendra like; some stupid game where you feed chickens, water the garden, make friends and talk to people. Also, we were blessed to see Kevin and Heather float by on their honeymoon cloud. They just waved at us, and we waved back….It would be the first of many rare sightings of the newlyweds throughout the weekend. I hit the sack around 10:30 PM.
Friday, July 23
I was pumped. It was time to get down to business. Ralph and I got to the table at 9:00 AM to finish setting it up properly. Christine, with coffee in hand, got there a little after us and walked around and talked with different vendors, witnessing to them. (Christine, is no doubt a people person. She truly has the gift of being able to talk to people and turn the conversation towards Jesus). I was at the table right up around noon. Friday was slow. Not too many sales. In fact every day this year except Sunday was slow for sales. Every day was big for the free tracts and comics we offered, though. It’s a good thing we know why our main reason for being there is: to give people the gospel for free. Selling, in my opinion, is a side benefit for being at the Con.
The day went on, as I walked the floor. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. I mean, there’s the usual bunch of weirdos and freaks walking the floor, but nothing that stands out in my mind. It’s hard to tell who is dressed up and who really looks that way. (When I got back to work on Monday, I told my co-workers that there were a lot of weirdos at the Con, and one of them, quite casually, said that I fit right in with them. I left myself wide open for that one :p). I noticed a lot of anti-Bush sentiments as I walked the floor. I also noticed that the women were more “covered” this year (however, I also heard the exact opposite). The usual Goths, punkers and other “people in black” were all present. I later told Eric, “There are two types of women here: women who are looking beautiful and women who are looking for attention”.
My webmaster friend, Jeff, came by Friday. We met with Geoff for the possibility of doing some really cool things for the CCAS website. That was cool.
Friday night we walked to Horton plaza to fellowship and eat together again. There were fireworks. The USS Reagan landed in San Diego harbor that day. I zonked out around 11:00 PM.
Saturday, July 24
Christine, Ralph and I prayed at the table before the floor opened to the public. This was one of the most important things we did. We should’ve done it for the other days. 10:30 AM was our Spiritual Themes panel with Robert Luedke (Eye Witness), Craig Thompson ( Blankets), Gary Martin (The Moth) and Doug TenNapel (Creature Tech) with Buzz Dixon moderating. This was probably the best Spiritual Themes panel we’ve ever had. Everything went smooth with Buzz moderating, and was kept on track. A lot of good answers were presented as to why these creators put spiritual content into their works. One of the people in the audience (during the question and answer time) said that he was disappointed that most of the panelist were coming from a Christian point of view, and that he would’ve liked to have had a Buddhist panelist. However, he did commend us for having Craig Thompson on the panel, because he thought Blankets would’ve upset the Christians. I really couldn’t sympathize with the guy. In previous years we’ve had Wiccans and atheists on our panel. It just so happened this year we had a lot of Christians. So what? CCAS sponsors the Spiritual Themes panel as a way of being salt to the audience (it’s not overtly Christian), but of course we are going to be playing with a loaded deck, since we are the ones who put it together. :o)
There was a young punker-type lady that came by our table and I said “Free Christian comics!” And she quietly said, “I’m not a Christian”, as she tried to move past our table. I quipped, “So? They’re free. What do you have to lose?” And she took a step back, took a tract and walked away. Praise be to God.
Saturday evening was cool, even though I showed up late. Everyone was having a fun time. Speaking of which, I saw a lot of love interests going on between certain individuals at the dinner table. You know who you are. Don’t try to deny it. I have witnesses. :o)
Sunday, July 25
Ralph and I woke up at 5:30 AM got ready and packed our stuff in the van. We then moved the van closer to the convention center, so, when 5:00 PM came, all we would have to do is leave from there. We had about two hours free time before even the vendors were allowed on the floor and we talked about the weekend. We talked about how we were really blessed this year, what our mission is (free stuff). We brought up an analogy between Mars’ Hill and what we were doing. It was all very cool, with the salty, San Diego air all around us. The sun rose, and I was hoping for a very good last day for CCAS table.
The Christian Open Meeting Panel was at 10:30, and I was blessed to be able to attend this year. Two guys offered to Ralph to do the worship, and he said “Sure”. The worship truly touched my heart. After 3 days of intense Conventioneering, God was able to strengthen me through the worship of songs to Him. It was incredible. This was my favorite moment of the entire Convention. Chris Yambar did the sermon on the exact thing Ralph and I were talking about that morning: Paul’s sermon on Mars’ Hill. He likened the Convention floor to a mission field. He brought up the subject of reaching the people who are afar off. “The worst ones, always make the best ones.” That stuck with me. We are called as artists, to reach this people, through culture. Almost everything Chris talked about was verbatim of what was on my heart. It was a simple but powerful message. Next up was Eric, Clint and Buzz, talking about their individual stories in bringing Christian comics to the world. I was encouraged by each of their testimonies of the pitfalls and the victories that each of them had. The common theme that each of them spoke about could be summed up by the “Let go and let God” phrase. It was only at the point of absolute surrender to God, that each of them were able to accomplish that which God wanted them to accomplish and that which has been the most gratifying experience to them. In the words of Buzz: “I wouldn’t trade my experience working on Serenity for anything.” I appreciated the honesty, transparency and humbleness of each of these godly men as they shared with a packed out audience of over 60 people their testimonies. I know that it was an encouragement to everyone in that room.
Later that day, I stopped by Robert Luedke’s both and we talked about his new book Eye Witness, a graphic novel about the crucifixion of Jesus. He truly does have a heart for reaching the lost and I was privileged to meet him.
5:00 PM came and we loaded up in two trips to the van, mainly because Ralph had covertly been taking boxes to the van that afternoon. We left the convention center at 5:30 (very good) and drove back up to the L.A. area. Unloaded Ralph’s rental van. He dropped me off at my Grandfather’s house, where my car was parked, and I drove back home. I got in about 10:00 PM and I hugged my mom. I was glad to be home again.
July 30, 2004
