On April 27 and 28, fifty people met in a small chapel outside of Chicago to talk about friendship.

But not just any friendships. For these two days, the discussion was specifically about friendships between men and women.

For many, cross-gender friendships are perfectly normal. We interact with people of the opposite sex all the time in our jobs, our churches, our day to day lives. But often when men and women develop close friendships, the response is to look for danger. The purpose of the Sacred Friendship Gathering was to encourage people to look at these friendships without the fear-filled lenses.

We were welcomed to the event by Dan Brennan, author of Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions and organizer of the conference. Right at the outset he assured the attendees that he was not looking to promote one kind of friendship, but rather to allow us a glimpse at many different kinds of cross-gender relationships. He shared that his desire was to encourage us to embrace the beauty and moral passion available in these relationships.

The first speaker of the night was <a title="Meredith Efken" href="http://sacredfriendshipgathering.com/speakers/meredith-efken/" target="_blank">Meredith Efken</a>, author of Lucky Baby. She spoke of a close male friendship that developed as a result of the creative process of writing that they shared. She thought nothing of their friendship until someone disapproved and indicated that this friendship might cause a problem for her in the Christian publishing world. She acknowledged that when someone questions a cross-gender friendship, you can feel dirty even if that friendship is completely pure. As a result, she said that it can be important to exercise caution when discussing your close, opposite-sex friendships. However, Meredith also said that even when she went through seasons where she shielded her male friend, she needed to remember that outside opinions had no bearing on her ability to love.

Katie Driver spoke next, and she shared about several cross-gender friendships, some that went well, and some that did not. One in particular that struck me was a mentoring relationship that she had. They