Category Archives: Conferences

Collecting Experiences, Conferences, Leadership, Ministry, Resources

Aha! Moments from Aha!

The Aha! Conference took place yesterday. The conference speakers were asked to submit a video describing their Aha! moment in ministry- the moment they got it or the moment when something worked or a moment when everything changed or became clear. Needless to say the day was filled with some great stories, practical teaching, and plenty of Aha! moments for those participating in this unique web conference. Below I have complied a small list of some of my favorite moments or quotes from the day. In the comment section feel free to post your Aha! moment. I want to hear from you!

Leadership Network’s next FREE web seminar is on May 19, 2010. Sage will follow the same format with the themelooking like it will focus on older and wiser leaders teaching and advising younger leaders. Should be a great event. I am very much looking forward to it!

Enjoy these Aha! Moments from yesterday’s conference:

  • “Most ministers burn out in ministry because they started out walking WITH Jesus and ended up working FOR Jesus.” – Pete Briscoe (I tweeted this quote yesterday and it was ReTweeted close to 10 times by others. Apparently this struck a nerve with a handful of people.)
  • “Are you secure enough to lead from your own skin?” Looking at 1Samuel 17:38– David refused Saul’s armor. “We are trying to fight the battle of ministry wearing other people’s armor (their style, personality, talents)” -Shawn Lovejoy
  • My Aha! moment was proceeded my an Ouch! moment when I heard God say “Why don’t you do (mission work) here? What about your neighbor. “Who are people in your natural path that you can bless today?” -Shelly Juskiewicz
  • Shelly also mentioned that Craigslist has a NEEDS section for locals in your community. What if the church began reading these NEEDS postings to reach out and serve people in the community?
  • How to motivate people- Lowest level: guilt/shame -> duty/responsibility. Moving up to vision/opportunity then to love & privilege. “What is celebrated gets repeated!” -Scott Ridout

Jon Ferguson’s 6 Coaching Questions:

  1. How are you? – relationship
  2. What are you celebrating? Where are you winning?
  3. What challenges are you experiencing?
  4. What do you plan to do to solve these challenges?
  5. How can I help you?
  6. How can I pray for you?
  • “How can a small church in the middle of nowhere do this? Jesus.” -Chad Hunt
  • “My AHA! moment happened when I realized I could be (myself).” Two reasons why I shouldn’t compare myself to anyone else: 1) I will find someone who is better than me and I will be discouraged. 2) I will always find someone who is not doing as well as me and I will become prideful.- Ben Daily
  • Jorge Molina’s entire talk entitled “You Are NOT Good Enough” was simply incredible. Jorge came across with humility and grace and I am better for having listened to his talk. I should post his entire teaching notes. I’ll do that this weekend.
  • “What is one area of ministry that with better execution could become a signature in your ministry?” – Glen Brechner
  • “If someone had come to me personally and asked me specifically– I think I would have responded personally.“ – Greg Lee (I have had this convo off and on with a friend of mine recently.)
Conferences, Leadership, Ministry

Aha! Conference Rocked!

I had an excellent time participating in the Aha! Conference today. Aha was hosted by Leadership Network which puts out some incredibly cool and practical leadership resources. The online conference gathered about 40 different speakers, leaders, pastors, and teachers. These speakers were asked to describe in 6 minutes or less their “Aha” moment in ministry.

Some of the speakers talked about the moment they came to faith in Jesus. Some talked about a breakthrough in working with volunteers. Others talked about something they struggled with or something that they were able to overcome through the grace of Almighty God.

I took extensive notes on most of the speakers that I was able to hear (I had to take a break to have lunch with one of my leaders). I will post a few of the my favorite take-aways tomorrow here on the blog.

Sometime this weekend I think I’ll post one of my Aha! moments. There was a time when I faced a fierce critic. Through some tough love from one of my bosses I learned an invaluable lesson on working with, approaching, and overcoming critical voices in my ministry. I had a Aha! moment when I was able to see clearly, act boldly, and overcome. It just took listening to voices that mattered and putting a little faith in God’s control. That’s all. Simple right? Hardly. I look forward to sharing this with you guys.

Until then, have a great night. Get some rest. God has amazing things in store for us tomorrow.

Conferences, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Planning, Resources, Study

Processing

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The biggest hurdle I have to jump after coming home from a conference is the subtle art of processing all of the information that was just crammed into my cerebellum over the course of 48 hours.

I returned home with 3 books, 13 main session recordings, 27 lab session recordings, notes in two “note-zines”, and a few notes scribbled on my legal pad. I want to be a good steward of these resources and so the last thing I want them to do is rot on a shelf somewhere. These resources are a gift so I must do everything I can to put them to the greatest use in my life and ministry.

Now obviously I won’t need to re-listen to everyone of those recordings and there are some that I’ll probably never get too. So what is my process for processing?

First, I gather together all my notes and type them out. Due to the fact that a one-armed monkey can type faster than me means that this is probably the hardest and most labor inducing step. Once I finish this, I have a better idea of what I missed, what I need to hear again, and the order of need.

Next, I begin importing the recordings into iTunes and create a playlist full of sessions to go through. If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time you know that am a believer in the iPod. I know that the iPod is the greatest tool for leadership development. Long before universities were giving out iPods and iPhones to their students I had sermons, books, and lectures loaded on my white knight making me a better student and leader. If all you have on your iPod is the latest songs from Top 40 “artists” than get on the ball and help get your lead on with a few challenging books or lessons. Need some ideas? Leave me a comment and I will personally send you some resources.

The Third step in the processing adventure is to Prioritize and Schedule. Since I have already worked through the material typing it out I know what lessons challenged me but, more importantly, I know what lessons are going to have the greatest impact on what I am currently doing. That is a big plus. I can spend an hour being wowed by a great lesson that inspires me to reach for the stars or I can spend an hour listening to a lesson that will help learn how to better turn on the rockets. Do you see the difference? I love and desire and need to be inspired to do great things but sometimes… sometimes I just need to learn to do something more effectively which will enable me to do something more excellent down the road. So I prioritize the lessons based on need. I make out a listening schedule and set aside development time in my planner. This fall I have designated Mondays and Thursdays for development days. (maybe one day I’ll post about what I do on Development days)

Step 4 begins as I listen or re-listen to lessons. I take new notes down on a legal pad and then update my typed notes when I return to my computer. What I am left with is a pretty good set of notes and usually a few actions steps on implementing what I’ve learned. Sometimes, I walk away from doing this and I may not have any action steps. That’s ok. I have the notes and I’ve activated my Reticular Activating System (Thanks Mark). So whenever I’m faced with a problem or idea that was mentioned in one of these talks, because I took good notes and invested time in making sure I understood the content, I’m able to cut my research time in half. G.I. Joe was right: Knowing IS half the battle. Bonus: Part of being a good steward of these resources is that when I know a friend could use the teaching or insight I can be quick to help them out with notes, outlines, ideas, or the recordings themselves. (This is my favorite part!!!!)

Well folks, that’s about it. I was truly blessed by Catalyst 08. I can’t wait for next year!

Speaking of Catalyst 09
Wouldn’t it be cool if me and the 2 of you who read this blog went to Catalyst next year as the Kicking at the Darkness group? I bet we’d be the only blog group there!! Sounds pretty cool to me. If you’re interested let me know. Let’s make it happen! Catalyst 09 is October 7-9, 2009. Mark your calenders!

Conferences, Discipleship, Experience, Faith in Action, Giving Thanks, Hope, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Music, Worship

Catalyst Day 2

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Another Catalyst is in the books.

Today was great. The highlight?

Dave Ramsey’s talk on practical leadership for your organization? Maybe.

Matt Chadler’s challenge to live and teach in such a way as to leave a lasting legacy? Could be.

Certainly the highlight must have been Tim Sanders plea to bring our Christian values of love, sacrifice, and service into the workplaces of America? Missed it by that much.

None of these come close. The absolute highlight of my day was when the Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa skipped on stage (literally skipped) and broke my heart singing God of Wonders. Then three of the children took to the mic and whipped out some incredible scripture references. To say I cried would be an understatement.

God put Africa on my heart a few years ago now. My heart breaks for the people of that continent. I have had a desire to go and do something there but that desire battles with perceived reality and usually ends up in the “good intentions” pile. Today was different.

Today I heard God say to me, “You are going to Africa.” This wasn’t communicated to me in a “someday” voice but in a “Get Ready!!!” voice. How will I get there? When am I going? I don’t know but if that really was God’s voice then I can’t wait to find out the answers to the When, Where, and How.

Conferences, Discipleship, Questions, The Word, Wrestling With Scripture

Catalyst Labs: Scot McKnight

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Key Question: How do we apply what we read in the Bible?

How do we really live out what we read? Frankly, everyone picks and chooses passages that they choose to follow and we ignore what we don’t like or don’t understand. There are things that we read that Paul said that we don’t do. There are things that we read that Jesus said that we don’t do.

In essence, when we don’t live out what we read we are saying, “Sorry, I really don’t believe that passage.”

5 Ways We Read the Bible That Can Leave Us Distorted

1) Morsels of Law -reading the Bible in such a way as only looking for Yes/No commandments. Problem: This truly is an all or nothing endeavor but we don’t really believe that either.

2) Morsels of Blessings and Promises– reading the Bible in such a way as only looking for blessings and promises. Problem: reading in this way gives us “spiritual diabetes” (my phrase) and distorts the word of God. McKnight noted that you never see a calender filled with Wrath passages. 🙂

3) Rorschach– opening the Bible and looking for the “answer” much like an inkblot test. Problem: Reader projects their own agendas, desires, thoughts onto the Biblical passages

4) Systematic Theology Scatter-Shot Reading in such a way as to boil down the Word in to understandable statements of fact and theology. Problem: Peterson said that reading the Bible this way “Tames the Bible so that we no longer can hear its wildness.” Things get left out or minimized.

5) Seeking the Maestro– People read the Bible through the lens of their favorite “master voice.” Jesus is a Maestro. Paul is a Maestro. Ezekiel is usually not a Maestro. Problem: fails to take all voices into account.

So what do we do? How can we read the Bible in way that is faithful to the revealed Word of God and actually live out what we read?

The secret is to read in such a way and with such intensity that our lives are sucked up into the story.

Ruth 1:16-17- Where the Bible goes we will go…

1Corinthians 9:19-23- allow the HS to guide you to follow what you read in every context in which we live.

Conferences, Discipleship, Leadership

Catalyst Day 1

Today was a great day!!!

I literally sat at the feet of Andy Stanley, Jim Collins, Steven Furtick, Seth Godin, and Craig Groeshel. I had a nice comfy chair right up against the stage for the entire first day.

While the chair was comfy the teaching was anything but. Messages ranged from how leaders must live out moral authority to moving your church from good to great to begging God to stretch, heal, and ruin you. It truly was an awesome day.

Oh yeah, and Jon Foreman from Switchfoot hit the stage (again right in front of me) for a few tunes. It was like a private concert just for me… and 12,000 friends.

I found myself unable to capture all the great teaching with just my pen and notepad. Good thing I purchased the tapes!!!

Tomorrow looks to be another banner day. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me… and my 12,000 friends.

Collecting Experiences, Conferences, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry, Remarkable, Worship, Wrestling With Scripture, Youth Ministry

Divine Appointments and Convergence

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A few years ago I was introduced to this idea of “divine appointments.” We’ve all experienced these in one way or another.

You know… when you just happen to meet someone going through a similar season of life that you are experiencing and your “chance” meeting brought clarity or encouragement.

Or when your plans get changed and in the midst of being frustrated and angry you realize that there was a reason your plans were changed- You missed something so-so and God provided an Oh-Wow.

Today I experienced the “divine appointment” in spades.

First I arrived at the Catalyst Labs still unsure as to whether or not I was going to purchase a ticket. As I walked in the door a guy asked me if I had a ticket. I kinda brushed him off thinking, “I can read the signs dude. I know where to get the tickets.” But the guy insisted. Turns out one of the people in his group couldn’t make it to the Labs and so I was suddenly presented with a ticket! Terrific I thought and I proceeded in to the Labs thinking I was only going to be able to catch the last few sessions. Nope. I was 20 minutes before the “Opening Session.” I hadn’t really missed a thing! For once it paid off getting to the airport before dawn!!!

Another concept that I have been working with recently is this idea I call “Convergence.” Convergence happens when I’m really listening and learning and connected to the Father. It is as if I have a heightened sense of spiritual hearing. I feel like God’s getting my attention when I start hearing things over and over and in different mediums. When this happens I get this sense that everything I’m reading, watching, hearing, conversing about all seem to “converge” together.

The only Lab I chose to go to was the first one. More on this is a second.

Lab Number One was taught by Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed. His Lab was based on his latest book, The Blue Parakeet, a book about examining how we read and apply the Bible. As a youth minister (and semi-pro-semi-amateur Bible scholar) this subject is a pretty important aspect of my life. However, just in the past month I have been wrestling with the short-comings I have perpetrated and the vision I want to put forth for teaching teens how to read their Bibles in a way that naturally leads to living out that Good News. That is exactly what Scot’s lab was about. Sha-zam!

For Lab Number Two I kinda got squeezed out of my preferred Lab so I settled into a familiar named author’s class. I have read Reggie McNeal’s This Present Future and Practicing Greatness so I though that I would see what he had to say. First off, the man is funny. I mean real funny and with a slightly warped Office-like-awkward-pause-kind-of delivery. Secondly, the man knows his stuff. His topic was to speak on his new book but he disregarded that subject to focus on his last book. He laid out the 7 Practices from Practicing Greatness spending the bulk of the time (read: all) on Practice 1, The Discipline of Self-Awareness. I am working through a 60 day self-leadership study right now. What reggie had to say is echoed in this book I’m working through and the notes I took seem to be a perfect supplement to walk me through the next part of the study. Weird huh?

Finally, I experienced a divine appointment and convergence in Lab Three. Thankfully, the space time continuum stayed intact.

I chose my speaker and subject for Lab Three, found my seat, settled in and then… I different speaker walked onto the stage. Now, I knew who this guy was and I was fine with the switch but I hadn’t chosen to listen to him speak. I chose the guy that hadn’t shown. As this speaker began his talk he looked out into the audience and said, “Some of you didn’t mean to be here. But God has set you up for a divine appointment.” Whah!?!?!?!

The speaker then went into a pretty detailed exegesis of Genesis 1-3: the creation and fall of man. Last Sunday Genesis 1-3: the creation and fall of man was the subject of my Sunday school class. I got some great questions from my teens and I got some good feedback but I felt like I left some questions unanswered. This Lab went a long way to help me work through some of their questions. Awesome!

I am so thankful that God had some divine appointments scheduled for me today. What a blessing!

More Catalyst to come.

Collecting Experiences, Conferences, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry, Resources

Unplugged Conference

Unplugged Day 1 is in the books. Registration began at 9am this morning and we wrapped up with dinner on the national mall at around 6pm. What a day it was!!!

There are only about 50 ministers here for the conference which has made for a very personal and informal (in a good way) meeting. I have never been to a conference where we all went around the room and introduced ourselves. Definitely a new experience for me.

Mark began by telling us his prayer for Unplugged. First, he prayed that there would be some divine connections made between us. Without doubt I had some great introductions and some divine conversations today.

Secondly, Mark prayed for some paradigm shifts to happen. Not sure I experienced any shifts today but I did get plenty of clarity. I think that being able to see your paradigms clearly can cause you to shift a little.

And finally, Mark prayed that we would walk away from the conference with some God ideas. I do believe that “1 God Idea is better than 1000 good ideas.” No doubt.

The focus of the conference is to look at The 5 Greatest Challenges That Leaders Face. We looked at the first 3 today:

The Motivation Challenge
The Vision Challenge
The Personal Challenge

I am excited to see what tomorrow holds.