Travis Johnson

Thanks to the guys at Granger!  They're providing the sessions of the Innovate Conference for free.  Thanks to Tim Stevens for the heads up.

Paul and I hit the Convergent Conference today and will finish up tomorrow around 2 pm here in Raleigh, NC.  We did the trip on his frequent flyer miles (that's a good deal for me).  The conference is on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. It was great to meet up with Patrick, one of Paul's friends and Jon Rogers, an old friend from Lee.

Ed Stetzer spoke.  He always shares a message that the Holy Spirit uses to convict me and focus me back to the main business of preaching Christ.  Ed always make me almost want to be a Baptist.  Since the conference focused on the emerging church, Ed shared how that:

Then, Mark Driscoll spoke.  Excellent stuff.  I watch Mark's Vidcast every week.  If I could pick a church as a backup church to attend other than Life Pointe, Mars Hill Church would probably be the place.  In watching, listening, and reading his stuff, I've had a mental picture that he is a 6'4" trucker looking guy.  I guess he's about 5'6"?  So, my mental picture of his persona was off a bit...though he still comes off truckerish, engaging, funny, abrasive, and insightful.

With that said, he has HUGE words for the Church.  He talked about:

At the risk of making this post go on longer than it needs to, I have to say that Driscoll and Stetzer are tapping into a lot of emotions and feelings I have about the Church.  It is encouraging to hear and challenging to practice.  Great stuff all the way around.

Over the past several months, I have been involved in a great coaching network led by Nelson Searcy of the Journey Church in Manhattan.  I've grown a lot in this environment.  I wanted to open the door for a few lead pastors to experience a little of what I've experienced.  So, I have 3 free tickets to a Stewardship Seminar that is being held in Tampa on September 11th from 9 AM to noon.  For lead pastors, this is a "can't miss seminar."

After the three tickets are gone, there is a cost of $49 to attend.  If you cannot afford to go, let me know and we will do whatever we have to do to get you there.  Either comment here or email me if you want one of the free tickets and I'll email you the code.  Otherwise, you can register here.

You've got to watch this video from Buzz.  Craig Groeschel was incredible.  He definitely spoke with a lot of authority.  Here are some of the highlights from Craig's talk:

Mega-kudos to Mark Batterson for releasing the Buzz Conference audio (video coming soon).  So, without having to pay for your hotel or conference registration, you can attend the conference.  Great move...great generosity. 

The mission of Jesus needs more people taking their hands off of the merchandise so that people can more effectively grip the plow.  Thank you, Mark.  Of the audio available at this moment, you must listen to Craig Groeschel's first session, especially if you are a pastor hoping to reach this generation for Christ.

Last year at the Buzz Conference, I got this picture. This year, it isn't so fashionable to have the "W" grace my hand, even if it is standing next to Sen. Leahy.  So, I kept it in my pocket.  Instead, we participated as citizens by sitting in the galleries of both the US Senate and the House of Representatives, tickets compliments of Senator Mel Martinez's office.

We were in the Senate when Mitch McConnel and Dick Durbin were acting conciliatory towards one another after the Immigration Bills failed.  Then, we hit the US House of Reps.  They party over there compared to the Senate.  There was a lot of cheering and booing.  It looked like nothing was getting accomplished...which is probably a good thing generally.

I ended up sitting next to Guy Melton from the Church at Pembroke Pines.  That was a real treat.  If I had to go all the way out to DC to meet him, it was worth it.

If you want to follow the Buzzers and get notes on the Buzz Conference from multiple sources, here they are:

TECHNORATI: Buzz Conference

I came to Buzz last year.  It was just what I needed.  We had just gone into our theater.  It gave us some umph in utilizing our space and helped us to think out of the box.  This year, I came because I wanted Jesse to see what Mark Batterson and his crew were doing and to hang with Paul. In addition to that, I've gotten big inspiration.  I feel re-inspired about our space and mission.

There are a lot of guys blogging their notes.  I'm going to hit my personal highlights:

Hit Reagan International in DC.  Jumped on the Metro.  Pulled into Ebenzeers Coffeehouses a few minutes late for the Theater Church pre-conference at Buzz.  Its hotter than blazes here.  I'm dying.  I'd love to get some good Miami weather to cool things down (its that hot!).  The whole temperature thing is magnified because I'm toasted.

Anyway, I'm sitting next to Jesse, Paul Hollifield, and Ken Hitte thankful to NCC for the Chic-fila and the conference.

The 2007 Exponential Conference (National New Church Conference) was excellent. In case you missed it, you can get the audio to the plenary sessions here:

Plenary Session 1 with Wayne Cordeiro
Plenary Session 2 with Ed Stetzer
Plenary Session 3 with Dave Ferguson
Plenary Session 4 with Bill Hybels

For the rest of the pre-conference podcasts, click here.  Thanks to Steve Addison for the heads up.

Dave Ferguson just announced that Greg Ligon of the Leadership Network will be hosting a web seminar with Dave, John Ferguson, and Eric Bramlett on Tuesday, June 26th from 11-noon (eastern).  The seminar is based on the book, The Big Idea.

Pastors, leaders, creative planners, etc... don't miss it.  Spread the word, people. Register here.

I registered the day before the Buzz Conference sold out. Hitting it for the second year in a row. I'm glad I got signed up in time. I'm bringing Jesse with me...want him to check things out. Since he's just coming on board, this will be a good opportunity to get the creative juices flowing.

Picture 1 - large gathering of new church pastors.  Wayne Cordero speaking in the first session about returning to the basics of faith in Jesus, eating and giving away fresh bread/fresh experience with the Scriptures. 

Picture 2 - Chris Elrod Fox News expert on "Man Church" wearing a "Man Bag," "purse," or some other similarly termed chick-like accessory.

Last week, we had issues with setup.  Everything came together but, the process was wobbly.  It really speaks to how critical Dave Crowley is to our crew.  Getting our sound guys up to his knowledge level is going to take some time.

So, during the week, the band, setup, and sound/media met to make the adjustments.  It showed today in a big way.

I'm registered for Exponential.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of the fellas there.  I'm signed up for the Post-launch track.  I can't wait.  On Friday, the 27th, we have a crew going to the Wired Church Regional Conference at Flamingo Road Church as well.  They'll be in Simply Strategic Volunteers and 1st Impressions tracks.

Joe and I arrived at Mountain Lake Church this morning and were greeted by about 200 super friendly volunteers.  They were great.  Shawn Lovejoy opened the conference discussing "Mission Drift."  From there, we went to Gary Lamb's session on "Going All Out for the Disconnected."  Gary is unique...a really decent guy with a focused heart. 

Then, Ed Stetzer was on fire.  He came off extremely on target discussing relevance and the priority of the Gospel.  It was personally challenging.  He used or coined the phrase "Seeker Comprehensible."  I like that and find that incredibly appropriate.

My favorite part of the day was the time with other pastors/planters we got to hang out with.  Chris and I have hooked up (which between he and Joe, gives me two body guards/bouncers).  I linked up with this guy, Landon Reesor.  He pastors Encounter Church in Stamford, CT.  I really like this guy.  I like how he thinks.  We all ended up at Chili's and got to shoot the breeze a bit more.  Jason Salamun grabbed dinner with us as well.  He is prepping to start a church in South Dakota.  He works for a large insurance group with a massive office down the street from us.  So, maybe we'll be able to twist his arm into hanging out with us at Life Pointe sometime soon.

Other blogs following the Conference: Technorati

After stopping in Gainesville last night for dinner with Chris Elrod (a dainty little chap), we made it in to the Atlanta area around 2 am.  I woke up this morning looking out over the valley in Elijay, GA before this morning's Churchplanters.com Conference kickoff.  Joe and I counted over a dozen deer coming up the mountain last night.  Incredible.  It seems like half of our church owns cabins up here.  They call them vacation homes.  I eye them suspiciously as an exit strategy from the buzz of life in Miami.

Anyway, I'm here.  I didn't get a speeding ticket while going through some backwoods Georgia village (I'm convinced that some of these towns finance city operations off of people going to and from Florida).  I'm ready to hang out with guys like Chris, Tadd, Gary, Shawn, Dave, Michael, and enjoy a great conference.  I'll keep you updated.

I just got the final schedule for the ChurchPlanters.com conference in Cumming, GA at Mountain Lake Church.  IIt stars Monday and is totally sold out.  I can't wait.  I'm also looking forward to the bloggers' roundtable discussion they'll be hosting.

My mom, Anne leads our Hospitality Ministries.  She is at The Springs in Ocala, FL today for the Regional Wired Church Conference on First Impressions.  I can't wait to get her back and see what Mark Waltz and those guys had to say.

Thanks Bob for the heads up on the October 13 Breaking Growth Barriers conference with Pastor Nelson Searcy of The Journey.  Location?  West Palm Beach. Registration info here.

I'm on my out the door to Re:Formation '06 in Atlanta.  Alex McManus is speaking.  I'll be there to tell the Life Pointe story along with a couple other pastors who are pastoring some out of the box churches in our denomination.  I'll blog the conference.  More tomorrow.

tagged: Alex McManus - Church of God - Reformation - Life Pointe Church

Below is a great peek into what appears to be a fantastic conference, especially for churches and pastors in the population centers of unchurched America.  I could listen to Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll all day.  I actually read Driscoll's "Confessions of A Reformation Rev" faster than any other book I've read.  It was honest to say the least.  Check out these must wach videos:

Mark Driscoll on Style in Ministry.
Tim Keller on the Character of a Missional Church.
David Wells on Emergent vs. Traditional and Seeker Church.
John Piper on the Nature of Postmodernism.

The rest of the videos promoting the Above All Earthly Powers Conference.

Cool article from downtown.  See you jokers at ReFormation '06.