Notes from the Trail

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I was incredibly encouraged today. That was after about 40 minutes of discouragement in the first plenary session of Exponential.

Ed Stetzer began the conference’s first main session, and his “presentation” consisted of statistics and research. Terrible way to begin a conference that should be inspirational and encouraging. In addition to that, everything he shared seemed targeted for the megachurch, in essence telling them that they need to be planting churches instead of growing monstrously large. (I agree with that but see no problem with them doing the latter if they’re diligently and sacrifically doing the former.)

In short, I give Stetzer’s presentation a D-. Seriously. The content was good, just inappropriate for the context. 

However, the second half of his presentation was a panel with different pastors of large churches who were modeling church planting. That was what was encouraging. To a “T,” all of them had wonderful words of encouragement and affirmation for the gathering of almost 3000.

Ron Sylvia, pastor of The Church at the Springs (very cool, Mac-like website) said some very deeply encouraging things to the group, as did the other panel members which included Neil Cole, author of Organic Church.

Then came Andy Stanley, pastor of Northpoint Community Church, and he hit a home run. Not only did he speak with humility and complete candor about everything from his dad’s divorce to his church plant/split, but he shared some profound insights about vision - mainly from his book Visioneering, which I am continuing to read and drink deeply of. I’ve read dozens of books in the past 18 years about vision, and it is hands-down the best. 

Throw in some wonderful one-on-one visits with Mark DeYmaz, pastor of Mosaic Church in Conway, Arkansas; Tim Smith, (former campus ministry buddy) executive pastor at Pinelak Church in Brandon, Mississippi and numerous conversations with others in the hallways and organizational booths, and it was a great day!

I spent the evening reading Visioneering by the pool in the gorgeous central Florida weather. 

I arrived in Orlando yesterday and had to rent a car. This was unplanned, but after discovering that a one-way trip from the airport was $55, I realized that I’d spend more on taxis than I would on car rental, so I’m styling in a Ford Edge. It is very nice, but it lacks get-up-and-go.

I drove to First Baptist Orlando where Exponential is being hosted and walked around, viewing the different ministry booths, picking up free pens, bags, and books. (Yippee!) I also had a chance to visit with several other church planters/new church pastors. The pre-conference intensives were very impressive, but the two that I wanted to attend were full. Bummer.

The full conference starts today, and I’m looking forward to hearing from Mark Batterson (I didn’t know he’d be here!) - he’s the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

Here are some things I’m hoping to glean from the next few days;

Some new relationships with church leaders across the U.S.

• Fresh insight, encouragement, and wisdom related to our church
• Tools and resources for community development and impact
• Spiritual refreshment
• Personal conversations with some of the guys that I’ve followed for a while

I’ll be flying out for Orlando Monday morning to attend the Exponential Conference. I’ve been planning and hoping to get to go for over a year, and even though the money is not quite there, I made the decision a month ago to “just go.” It’s a gathering for new church leaders and features a dynamic lineup of humble and inspiring church planters who have “been there before.”

In particular, I’m looking forward to hearing from Andy Stanley, pastor of Northpoint Community Church; Alan Hirsch, author of The Shaping of Things to Come and The Forgotten Ways (I designed his latest website!); and Ed Stetzer, author of Breaking the Missional Code. This will mark the first time in five years that I’ve gotten to attend a conference designed especially for church planters and new church pastors.

I hope to receive some much-needed refreshment and wise counsel during some of the breakout sessions with other pastors and leaders. I’ll be trying to do some blogging from the event similar to what I did with the i2 Conference at Little Rock last year. 

This is my solitary place. Where is yours?

1. Matthew 14:13
   When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitaryplace. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
   Matthew 14:12-14  (in Context)
2. Mark 1:35
   Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
   Mark 1:34-36  (in Context)
3. Mark 6:32
   So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
   Mark 6:31-33 (in Context) 
4. Luke 4:42
   At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. 
   Luke 4:41-43 (in Context) 
5. Luke 5:16
   But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
   Luke 5:15-17 (in Context)

Well… let me dust off my feminine side and respond to being tagged by Brittany and Mandy, all in the same day. Fortunately for me (and all of you who detest these memes), it was the same tag, so you won’t have to endure two different tags.

As an aside, tagging to me has always felt like an invention by someone who doesn’t get to talk enough. It’s kind of like they sit around, wondering why no one ever asks them, “What was your favorite childhood memory between the ages of 9-10 1/2 in which you were wearing a red sweatshirt?” They long to be able to share that kind of information with people, so they write up these lists of questions and answer them themselves and then claim they were “tagged.” A good way to find this out is to simply backtrack a tag. When you get to someone’s blog that doesn’t reference the person who tagged them, they are the originator and the culprit of your current tagging woes. 

I’d like to tag them… with a 2×4.

Sigh. End of rant. 

Since you’ve been eagerly waiting… without any further ado, here is the meme and the rules:

The Rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Fact One: I dislike tagging, but occasionally I enjoy reading them. But I am going to be a spoil-sport and kill my part of this tag by not tagging anyone.

Fact Two: I’ve been tagged before (here, here, here, and here).

Fact Three: I’ve played tag before. (usually lose since I’m not the fastest kid on the block)

Fact Four: I taught a bunch of third graders at Monticello Intermediate School how to play Chinese Freeze Tag my first day as a WATCH DOG. That was also the day that one of those students broke his arm - on the monkey bars, not playing CFT. 

Fact Five: At Ouachita, I was voted junior and senior class president.

Fact Six: I haven’t been voted anything since.

Fact Seven: I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. I want to be a write-in. Start the campaign!