Ever felt like you were going nowhere? That's what I felt a few years ago while traveling deep into the desert with an enthusiastic young couple from Urban Mosaic, our worship celebration in a nightclub just west of downtown Los Angeles, to oversee an outdoor experience they called "Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death."

The idea: Invite people to travel with some sort of percussion instrument three hours into the desert. Worship and talk through the night, and be there to greet the sunrise. As they first described the event, I thought, Will there be toilets? Will this be evangelistic? And did I mention toilets?

"Why not?" I said. At the very least, I'd be able to spend time with up and coming leaders, as well as to watch a dynamic couple from a "rave" background put an event together.

A few weeks later we loaded a Jeep Montero and followed our map to a designated site in the desert. The last third of the three-hour trip was on off-road "lanes" in the desert. No road signs, only ...