I'm sitting in a huge dining room, having eaten a great salad and half a cookie (I had to give the other half to Burnie, it was sooo big) from the restaurant here in the church. Now I'm sipping on a caffe latte from their coffee shop. In a few minutes we venture into their worship auditorium for a "film festival" highlighting some of the great videos done by churches across America.
The picture is of Nate and I standing in front of the escalator at Willow Creek. Some people just wouldn't believe a church has an escalator.
These guys know how to put on these conferences. My problem is getting lost in this place and going to the wrong seminar. Today we attended 4 breakout sessions we had pre-registered for. Mine were on Journey Church in Manhattan (how they plan for worship services). Our friend Nelson Searcy is their lead pastor, and one of our own, Jessica A. attends there. Another on unleashing your creativity, taught by Mark Miller from Chic Fila (he was incredible); a third about using journaling in your spiritual growth; and last was a one man play about a pastor, his love for his family and his church and how he was being forced out after 11 years. It was outstanding.
Tomorrow morning Erwin McManus brings in his team from Mosaic in LA to give a demonstration on how they do worship in a very arts centered multi-ethnic community. I've been wanting to go out and attend their conference for some time. I'm sure after tomorrow I'll want to do that even more.
All this is good stretching stuff. To be able to see and hear what other innovative churches are doing to reach the world with Christ is encouraging, humbling and challenging. God has used this time (as He typically does when I can get away to these events) to get me thinking and coming up with ideas.
Nothing's worse than being in a church stuck in a rut. At Nags Head we are committed to doing whatever it takes. That's one thing that makes it a great fellowshp.
These guys know how to put on these conferences. My problem is getting lost in this place and going to the wrong seminar. Today we attended 4 breakout sessions we had pre-registered for. Mine were on Journey Church in Manhattan (how they plan for worship services). Our friend Nelson Searcy is their lead pastor, and one of our own, Jessica A. attends there. Another on unleashing your creativity, taught by Mark Miller from Chic Fila (he was incredible); a third about using journaling in your spiritual growth; and last was a one man play about a pastor, his love for his family and his church and how he was being forced out after 11 years. It was outstanding.
Tomorrow morning Erwin McManus brings in his team from Mosaic in LA to give a demonstration on how they do worship in a very arts centered multi-ethnic community. I've been wanting to go out and attend their conference for some time. I'm sure after tomorrow I'll want to do that even more.
All this is good stretching stuff. To be able to see and hear what other innovative churches are doing to reach the world with Christ is encouraging, humbling and challenging. God has used this time (as He typically does when I can get away to these events) to get me thinking and coming up with ideas.
Nothing's worse than being in a church stuck in a rut. At Nags Head we are committed to doing whatever it takes. That's one thing that makes it a great fellowshp.
Posts
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing. Would love to read more about how the rest of the conference went.
Post a Comment