Travis Johnson

Ships were not made for harbors.  So, as much as I enjoy hanging with a bunch of guys that talk and dream about the same stuff, it is time to go back to sea.  Homestead is calling.  And, in all honesty, Christian subcultures can be overwhelming...a seemingly safe bubble of good little Christians. 

I can't wait to get back to Miami where road rage, high taxes and tolls, congris, maduros, population density, hurricane warnings, and bazillions of ethnic and cultural concoctions await.  Jesus is in the middle of all that.

As my last NNCC/Expoential Conference entry, check out what some of the other pastor/bloggers are saying about it:

Matt Payne - Drew Goodmanson - Andrew Jones - Ben Arment - Jeff Calloway - Derek Brown - Tadd Grandstaff - Dave Ferguson - Todd Rhodes - Chris Elrod - Gary Lamb 

Follow the conference on Technorati: here and here

Oh, and thanks to the guys that have linked to me.  I had as much traffic on my blog by 9 am today than I usually get in a day.  Thanks especially to Todd Rhodes from Monday Morning Insight.

Larry Osbourne is the lead pastor of North Coast Church, one of the most prominent churches in the multi-site, multi-venue church movement.  I'm all ears in this session.

Q&A
How many hours do you work as a pastor?  With kids, no more than 50.  Now, 60 hours.  The only thing is that you can't always control when thos hours are.  But, honor your family first with your time.

Is there a practical way to say no to emergencies while you have a smaller church?  Yes.  You tell people that everyone wants to meet after hours and that you can't do that without being divorced.  They understood and made the adjustments.

What do you say to people who always complain about how tough their responsiblities are? You tell them life is hard, then you die, and if you are a Christian you'll go on to be with God.  Life is tough for everyone.  So be thankful as you go through your particular process.

What do you do for your staff to encourage renewal?  We encourage them to discern their own ebbs and flows.  In all honesty, we've had more of an issue with people thinking staff ministry is Disney World and that they are entitled to stuff.  Ministry is not a union job.

After you came through your difficult years, did you lose people in the change?  Yes.  People left because our new healthier approach to ministry was not what they were looking for. 

Commentary: I'd say that Larry's teaching is almost opposite to what everyone else is teaching.  I'd group Larry and Ed Stetzer in the same group as sharing almost prophetic words to planters.  They are counter cultural voices whom I very much appreciate.

Tony Bruno, Rickie Bradshaw, and Efrem Smith shared their personal stories and how that the heart of a pastor, his experiences, and pains shapes the heart of his church.  This session was inspirational and story-driven.  I can't really bullet point this.  But, I can say that the heart of a multi-ethnic church has to be heart...who you are.  The heart of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church cannot reduce ministry to preach down to the church but to be transparent with the story, encouraging one another in a way that transcends race and culture.

The opening of this session started with urban hip hop worship led by some of Terrance Levi's guys.  This was awesome because, typically church plants that are featured by prominent church planting networks are for urban and suburban white. At the close of this session, Terrance told the story of the prodigal son story. Inspirational. Moving.  Check out Ben Arment's blog for some good pics.

Ed Stetzer interviews Terrance Levi of Street Life Church Planting Network

Begin Ed’s talk on Missional DNA

Acts 1:8 – “You will be my witnesses.†

“COME ON OVER†Acts 17 – “come over to Macedonia and help us.â€

HELP

· Make sure people know it is all about Jesus.

· The help that we need to offer is the “proclamation of the Gospel.â€

· 2 corinthians 5:11-20

o your job is to persuade men about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

o Let them know that you are totally sold out too the Gospel.

o Christ’s love compels us.

o We are Christ’s ambassadors…imploring people on behalf of God.

o The totality of the Christian message is bigger than a salvation decision.

o However, we cannot remove the bloody Christ and the empty tomb.

o Francis DuBose wries “The God who sends†quote: “The ornamental beauty of a bejeweled cross is not…†(Find rest of quote)

o Being missional is bringing the help of the Gospel.

o Missional is being redefined as being sympathetic.

o Help walks by a ditch and offers a man a way to get out

o Sympathy walks by the ditch and feels sorry for a man, gets in the ditch with him but never offers him the way out.

o To start a church, you must not only BE and DO, but you must also TELL.

o WARNING to PASTORS- relevance has become a goal when relevance should be a tool and the Gospel should be ther goal.

o When relevance becomes the goal:

§ We focus on personal transformation and not Gospel transformation.

§ When your sermons are so practical they lack any Gospel.

§ When we talk more about practical than biblical.

§ When your outreach demeans others that preach the gospel.

§ When your approach makes you the hero and not jesus.

§ When personal evangelism is an oxymoron in your church.

§ When invest and invite never leads to evangelize.

§ When attendance is a bigger goal than evangelism.

§ When the cross gets less focus than your church

§ When not offending seekers is more important than the Gospel.

· Perhaps its time to stop being seeker sensitive and we should be seeker comprehensible.
US

Intro to my notes:

Some cat in the back was clipping his nails…distracted me. So, my notes are a little scattered. You would think that pastors would know better. Cell phones ringing in church bug me. I hear that nail clipping is the old school annoyance now replaced by cell phones. I definitely like the sound of a cell phone more than I like the sound of some monkey in the back digging at his finger nails. I’ll throw a book at the next bonehead that does that.

Ed Stetzer

Trends in Church Planting that Reaches More People

I heard Brad at the Buzz Conference in '06. He's the VP of Communications for the Four Square Church.  He's like a boy genius as well as the founder of one of my favorite blogs, Church Marketing Sucks.  Drew Goodmanson, pastor of Kaleo Church was with Mark Driscoll when Mars Hill Church had under 100 people.  Drew gave a great talk...seems like he has his finger on the pulse of a very transient community in San Diego.

Getting the Word Out

Drew Goodmanson  of Kaleo Church and

Brad Abare of Center for Church Communications

I'm sharing the high points of the conference with anyone interested.  My attention span can sometime be about the size of a gnat so don't be surprised if I don't stay super detailed with the notes.

But, before I pass on the notes, I have to say it was cool to bump into Dave Ferguson in the hallway.  Dave has left a couple comments on my blog in the past.  Since, he's like a Michael Jordan of church planting, I find that cool.  I think this guy is pretty much the picture of a servant leader.  For a guy leading one of the most influential churches in the U.S., he's about as down to earth as a human can be.  I dig that.

Also, I ran into Ryan Kramer from Mosaic Church in Tarpon Springs.  Ryan and I went to Lee together.  He's a decent guy that I wish I knew better.  I saw Tadd in the auditorium.  I ran into Matt, a future really good friend who is starting a church in the Pembroke Pines area.  I never bumped into Phil Underwood from the Point in Snellville, GA or Nathan Griffis (planting in Weston).  But, I did speak to both of them on the phone a half dozen times.  1st Baptist Orlando has a big campus so that's pretty easy to do.

The pre-conference sessions I was in today were great.  Jim Putnam from Real Life Church in Idaho was spot on with his teaching on community and discipleship.  Next Stop- my notes.

tagged: National New Church Conference - Exponential Conference