I’ll Go To Your Church Conference Because Of What You Are, Not What You Are Not
Someone twittered me the other day…
“What conference can I go to to pick the conference to go to?”
It was funny. I get it. There are lots of Christian church conferences. Lots of them. Like hundreds.
Which I think is great. Opportunities for people to connect and network and grow.
But I’m noticing something as I navigate the web waters of these conference websites.
Remember when it used to be churches in town saying why their church is for you by letting you know why the other one is not for you?
Well some of what I’m seeing now is the same thing.
Conferences saying what they won’t do instead of what they WILL do.
Albeit. Most of this is under their breath.
Albeit it is not ALL conferences. Not even most conference. But it is a small, yet growing number of them.
And there are like 450,000 so don’t try and peg me on calling a certain one out. I know you, you crafty little journalistic bloggers. 
Stop saying what you are not and just be and celebrate what you are.
I tell church creatives all the time, it’s not about what you are not.
You’re not your grandmas church. I get it. You’re not a suit and tie church. I get it. You’re not this or that. I get it.
But WHAT ARE YOU?
I normally tell them to celebrate who they are and leave the negative marketing to news stations and politicians.
To each his own. And the Lord will use His Church to bring His Kingdom.
With a suit and tie, LED’s, overhead projectors, versatubes, 4 Spiritual Laws, show stopping openers, friend day mugs, IMAG screens, 2’s thru 5’s in the same classroom with an almost dead teacher named Glenda.
We are all in this together.
A great example of a conference who promoted themselves proudly without calling others out is The Sticks Conference.
Now I don’t even know if this conference is even around anymore. I never spoke at one. I never attended one. All I know is when I sift through their marketing material, it is about WHAT THEY ARE. Not what they are not. A conference for churches in rural towns who want to make a Big impact. Bam. Simple. Not demeaning. Nails.
Be and celebrate who Christ called you to be.
That’s all you need.
For His Name’s Sake, Not our own…
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
money. dead on! nice post man
man, whoever twittered that needs to lighten up…
HAHAHA. Look. You made a post.
haha, maybe next time it'll be from something positive, and not a snarky comment that… while somewhat humorous, came from a bad spot
ah well, here's to next time
nice post though, i agree with you. i was actually browsing a conference website the other day that was marketing itself in that "we're not…this this or this…" way and it struck me as bush-league.
anyway, nice post
you know i love ya.
Amen! <— I'm old school. So I like to say, 'Amen' when I wholeheartedly agree with someone. There I said it. I'm old school.
I love when you lay the smack down.
Someone got you going, maybe it was all those holy tweeters
there are only so many ways to skin a cat. and there's a conference that covers every minute detail of the process!
Chris & I saw a great sign out in front of a church today.
“We aren’t Dairy Queen, but we’ve got great Sundays!”
We loved it.
Love it!! I want to be known for what I am for not against!! The sad reality is that most Christians are known for the very opposite. Great post!!
…and they'll know we are a greatchurchconferencethateveryoneshouldattend by our love…
how dare you…my mother's name is glenda.
actually it's lisa…but good post..
even though my home church isn't a "conference" this is one of the things i truly appreciate about it..we know and celebrate who we are..no compromise. no stabs.. it's better that way.
thanks for the reminder.
relax…take a deep breath, put your head between your knees…wait…that's not what I wanted to say…
i'm a modern church-tech-bible-teaching-jean-wearing-blogging-no-tie-wearing-evangelist-teacher-dad-webguy-videoproducer-soccer-coach-commenting-ninja
i am a conference…i go to the most uptight/conservative/close-minded conferences…i'd love to go to a Catalyst or Orange or Black or whatever your catch-phrase is…but I'm deep-cover..
Hey Los,
I wanted to give you the inside scoop on the branding of the sticks. Charles really wanted to create a network/conference for pastors in small town to make a big impact. At first we were having a hard time thinking of a name for it and the I contacted Ben Arment. http://www.kezrush.com/2008/06/conference-talk-wi...
Coming out of the conversation it was clear to me that we had to go with the sticks. It represent us well. With out the marketing genius and advice of Ben, I don't know where the sticks would be.
http://www.benarment.com/history_in_the_making/20...