Introducing The Perfect Church Conference 2011
So when you go to a conference…
A church one…
Like one to help you with your church…
What is it that you are actually looking for?
Are you looking to be “wowed”?
Are you looking to be inspired by “wow”?
Are you looking for nuts and bolts?
Are you looking for networking with other people where you are at?
This is not going to be a conference bashing thread.
I’ll kick your calloused cynical butt if you do and you will just look like a jerk.
You can be honest without showing your backside.
I’m interested to know though…
Knowing nothing can be crafted “perfectly”…Be hypothetical…
Do they do it for you?
If not WHY and HOW could they be crafted perfectly for YOU?
Let er rip…
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
The perfect church conference for me is being able to talk with others. So any conference that puts an emphasis on being able to cnversate with friends, people you do no know, or twitter friends makes it the perfect place to be.
I just want to hang out with you…
Well I hold a conference everyday at Starbucks in St Charles MO. Its free and I will buy the coffee
Next time I’m in St. Charles, can I take you up on the offer?
heck ya man.
Hit me up on twitter: @kylelreed
Sweet. My whole family is from there.
awww two Kyles meant for each other
I’d love for conferences to create intentional space to connect with others. at this point, I’d prefer a smaller conference to a 1,000+ one to better facilitate this for me and my church planting team.
In the last few years I have found that I really enjoy hanging with guys in churches smaller than the one that I serve in. They seem to bring years of hard work and wisdom to the table. I would love to see a conference where you had a group of guys from smaller churches teaching the rest of us what it takes to have longevity in ministry and perseverance!!! Plus I love to network and get to know new people.
Holy Crap. I want to go to that conference…
Been longing for a “no-name” conference where it was more about the wisdom than the names there. A lot of guys I know get more excited about the name and size of their “chenis” than the brilliance and wisdom of a guy in a church of 150 who is killin it every week.
Have you heard of a conference called “the Sticks”?
Sounds a lot like what you are describing.
I have not, but would love to check it out. Is that the website as well?
http://www.thesticks.tv/
Thanks homie!!!
A few thoughts.
1. When learning Greek, I learned the best teachers are only a few steps ahead.
-In other words, listening to some scholar 10-15 years ahead of my skills wasn’t helpful for a beginner.
-In church world, I think we should learn from people just a FEW STEPS ahead as well.
-That means as much as we love being intellectually masturbated by Andy Stanley, we should also listen to a church leader only a few steps beyond us.
2. The feeling I have is that the “BIG CHURCH” guys only attend conferences they are speaking at.
-I know this isn’t 100% true, but a conference I like is called http://stickychurch.com/ because they have “NO GREENROOM.”
-If a speaker is speaking, he/she must attend and must hang with people.
3. Smaller church guys like to listen to people further ahead and don’t have the time to speak at conferences. N’uff said.
Just my thoughts.
Being a few steps ahead does not necessarily mean that they have a bigger or better church. That may mean the guy who has been at it for 25 years in a church of 250 has some wisdom for the guy at a church of 3000 who has been in ministry for 8 years. I do understand your point that smaller church guys like list to people further ahead, as do all of us, but he may actually long to share that wisdom at a conference. If he can attend conferences each year, they he should have the time to speak at that same conference. In fact most of the guys that are attending church conferences are not guys at mega churches. It is the guys pounding it out week in and week out in the trenches. Just my perspective.
Totally agree Trevor. The guys attending the conferences are the ones in the trenches. RE = ME!
Thanks for the word on the size thing too.
Thanks for doing what you do man. Where do you currently serve?
I’m the pastor of a plant in Anaheim called City Church (LoveHopeCity.com). It’s a lot of fun, and LOTS of work (which I’m avoiding right now). AHHh…
You know that I really enjoy the part of what I do that involves speaking at these conferences. Love it. But it’s not about the speakers, it’s about the people.
As a speaker my goals are:
- to give you something to take home, a thought, an idea, something actionable that you can put in place. I want you to be able to prove that you went to a conference (beyond the swag)
- to serve as a catalyst of conversation. If you give me an hour, I am not going to speak for an hour. Probably :45 so that we have time to talk and so that questions can be asked. The greatest attaboy is when people continue to talk about it afterwards.
I think we need more conferences that are about interacting and not just listening. I get that the rockstar speakers sell tickets, but I think it has to be more than that.
Often we are on our own in our churches, whether you’re a pastor, an artist, you name it (though I do think artists are uniquely on their own and misunderstood), these conferences must be a connecting point.
I’m hoping you’ll start to see that through what we’re doing at CFCC with local labs and our regional coordinators. I loved playing a part in Cultivate and with conferences like Dirt because they were so focused on relationships.
The greatest conference is a time of connecting with people and ideas…and in that order. Shoot, I don’t know that we shouldn’t just throw out the term “conference” and simple create spaces for this to happen.
I want a conference that is going to challenge me…spiritually, theologically, relationally. Wow is nice but I want to go and be stretched with thoughts I haven’t heard and maybe even don’t agree with. I want to leave thinking. That’s why I love listening to guys like francis chan and mark driscoll. Put me in a living room with those guys and that’s the perfect conference.
The perfect conference with me, would be being able to serve with others.
The gathering is great, but I hear time and time again, “I learn better hands on.” Why should churching it be any different?
Church should be a verb. Learning should be two ways. While sitting at a conference listening to people speak seams invigorating, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could be serving together, loving together, in community, and learning from each other?
I have never been to a huge conference but I have been to small ones. The best thing I have ever experienced is being able to debrief with a few other people who were in similar situations after listening to a speaker. This lets you talk about what the speaker said and discuss what implications it has on your ministry. This allows you to not only be inspired but also flesh out some of that inspiration with others who can identify.
You should check out http://theForgeConference.com worship/ministry training by people in the trenches for people in the trenches. The whole concept was grafted to fit the needs of the small churches and not just cater to the BIGCHURCH. With an emphasis on relationships and brokeness it’s deff one that will be remembered long after the buzz fades away.
Th
that looks like one I’d LOVE to attend – too bad it’s in NJ instead of OR or WA…
I think that church conferences are more about refreshment, the ability for leaders to get away from the “merry-go-round” of ministry that never stops spinning. Whether content is good at a conference or not…I always come home thankful that I have been away. It would rock to go to a conference where there was intentional grouping with other attendees instead of sitting and watching supposed “pros” teach us…we could learn from our peers. After all..we are all the same….following Christ…inviting others to follow him..right?
We have been in marriage ministry for several years, and now work @ the headquarters of our ministry in Florida. What I have observed the last 2 years in both para church and church ministry is the need for marriage to be addressed. I think part of the conference should be focused on equipping pastors to be the husband and father they are called to be. If satan can get a foothold in the pastor’s family, it won’t matter what your other sessions are about. He comes to seek, steal, and destroy. Then equip your pastors to go back to their church with the ability to do the same for their congregation. I believe you have strong, healthy families, you will likely have a strong, healthy churches.
Great idea. I’m not a pastor, nor am I married, but I think it’s a great idea.
I want to be challenged. I want to be kicked. I want my brain to nearly explode. I want something new to inspire me. I want something practical I can take away and apply. I want to still be living what I learned by the time the next conference comes round. I want to get something I can pass on to others. I want to be able to put in a much as I’m getting out.
Oh… and lots of cheesecake.
http://www.forgeconference.com
http://www.allaboutworshipretreat.com
These are th REAL deal, Los. I think we are gonna see more of these kind–grass roots by real leaders workin in the trenches who are not the giga church types!
Any conference that occurred in Portland, OR would be awesome, as it seems there are never any here. Maybe I’m out of the conference loop.
I echo the sentiments above about being able to connect with people, and hearing from some smaller churches would be tremendous.
Nothing against mega-churches and their pastors (who typically speak at conferences) but sometimes what they have going doesn’t quite translate to a smaller community. Feel me?
Q. Will be in Portland this spring. Well worth checking out.
http://www.qideas.org/event/concept.aspx
i think I just want some nuts and bolts from people that are in a similar situation and have come out the other side with some battle scars & practical wisdom.
I’ve mainly attended “inspirational” conferences lately (Leadership Summit, etc), and while those are good – it’s often difficult to translate that into what I actually do every day. I’ve been mulling over the idea of going to DRIVE in Atlanta next year, but not sure how applicable it would be for a small church.
I’ve only been to one church conference and it was Catalyst last year. I walked away with one concept that’s been bouncin’ around my head and heart for almost a year now and the message is just as strong now as the day I heard it (even though it was never said explicitly from any speaker): God will choose when, how and IF to promote me. Any attempts to promote myself are completely in vain and counter to what God is trying to do in me and through me.
So…with only an N of one, I’d say Catalyst is pretty good.
That being said, I didn’t like the labs at all so I’m skipping those this year.
http://www.qideas.org/
this has been my fave by far. it’s all about continuing the conversation. Which conversation? The one that many others are too insecure to have. The one that involves Muslims, inter-religious humanist movements, science, and art.
future, culture, church, gospel. they broke us into different tables every day, mixing small church, radio execs, and speakers from the conference to talk and mingle. no #tweetup necessary. They meet in different cities every year. The use the environment and the people to inspire, which to answer the question is what I’m usually there for- inspiration. a break from the familiar to encounter something different and be reminded about why I do what I do.
I look for church conferences with sessions for people who are called to serve in ministry outside of the church (building) and in nontraditional ways. Catalyst West has done good by me the last 2 years.
Los
How bout the one you’re speaking at in Seattle? http://www.calibratenw.com/
Looking forward to it.
That’s weird. I’ve never been to your site before until tonight. I just blogged about that same topic this morning. Would love to see something an EPIC FAIL Pastors’ Conference. Check it:
http://www.jrbriggs.com/epic-fail-church-conference/08/
The perfect one is about the networking and conversation.
my dream conference would be more of a monastery retreat with people from all ends of the Christian spectrum (emergent, baptist, eastern orthodox, catholic, pentecostal, etc) and the end would be a day of sharing. Christian celebrities welcome, but they don’t get time slots.
I look for a conference that, instead of pressuring me to “be here for every session or you’ll be flogged by our guilt machine” wold say something else, like… “some of the sessions are going to be scratch-you-eyes-out boring, so go to Disneyland if you like. Catch us on the next session.”
And good coffee helps.
My name is Jessica. I’m the worship leader at a really cool church of about 50 people in Kernersville, NC.
Sometimes I feel like the same thing is being said over and over, year after year, no matter what conference you go to. So I’m like, what’s the point in going?
Maybe I’ve grown cynical.
I would love to go somewhere where a bunch of us worship leaders could unite in crying out to God for our cities and for Him to break our hearts. A big ‘ol cool prayer session together.
I would love to go somewhere where there are trusted leaders assigned to each worship team represented there, to encourage us, pray for us, counsel us, prophesy over us, mentor us. Wouldn’t it be cool for us as teams to go somewhere and get some time with someone who has been “assigned” to us, has been seeking God for us, and is ready to minister to us?
I would love to go somewhere where “how to have a cool church” is not the point. I guess most of the time I prefer less of the how-to’s, and more of the ministry, getting renewed and refreshed time, you know? Big names don’t really draw me.
I enjoy being inspired, so set designs and videos and lights and artistic expressions are always cool to me. But sometimes I sense an air of competition in some conferences, and that big churches have it goin’ on and small churches are felt sorry for. (Gosh, am I bitter? Maybe I need to go pray and forgive some people!)
Hope this helps. I’m learning to love the Body of Christ and Her variety.
Jessica
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