Wow. That’s a fair recap. Wow.
I was able to meet a few people today. People I’ve talked with online through email or facebook or blogs or twitter. I was able to talk with Kem, Rob, and Lindsay. All were quite nice.
The day started with a quick tour of the facilities. The children’s areas were impressive. Nearly all of them you enter by way of a slide from upstairs. Nice! I know my kids would love that. And I would give it a try to if I could.
We didn’t have worship last night w/ the Bible study…because it was Bible study. But we’ve worshiped a few times today. We said close and on the side. And it was loud. I wondered if their weekend services are as loud. Dunno. I’d like it, but not sure everyone would.
I actually grabbed a few video clips from worship, but I didn’t pack my cord to post them, so that will have to be post conference unless I find one tomorrow.
Mark Beeson is a very energetic guy. But it didn’t come across as cheesy, which is good.
Shawn Wood impressed more than I expected. Not that I didn’t expect him to be good. I want to buy his book. But I have a lot of other books I need to start/finish before I buy another. And Tim Steven’s book Pop Goes The Church was some nice swag too.
The snack tent had lots of goodies, plus video games set up. They were played at first, but then not so much. But I did eat/snack a lot. And they had Famous Amos cookies. I mean, how awesome is that?
The Granger Film Fest was great.
Breakfast at the hotel, lunch at Moe’s, supper at Hullihans, and then a late night stop by the Notre Dame bookstore for a new ND shirt. I had too. Just like the Georgetown one I got last year while in DC from the Georgetown bookstore.
My big takeaways from today. There was lots to learn and process so this is the barebones of it:
- It’s okay to talk about doing something, but there comes a time when as churches we have to stop talking and start putting action to our words.
- It’s okay to put some effort into presenting yourself (as a church) well, but don’t worship your church’s brand or image. Make sure that Jesus is your first and primary motivation in EVERYTHING your church does. Connect people to Him. Not your cool church. As a church, be who God created you to be.
- Groups don’t change people. God changes people. People matter to God. It’s about them. And that’s who we focus on.
- Sometimes leverging culture is needed to break into the lives of people. And it can open a doorway into relationship and conversation with them to were they can eventually experience life change w/ God.
