Tim Stevens Summarizes Perry Noble

Tim Stevens just wrote a summary of the ICC talk given by  Perry Noble, Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. I met Perry 3 years ago at the Creative Church Conference (when both his church staff and mine were on a tour of Texas Stadium – I didn’t know I’d end up moving to Dallas!). God is using Perry to do some amazing things, including starting and leading a mega-church in ANDERSON, South Carolina. Please understand, I was born and raised in Greer, SC – 20 minutes from Anderson. That city is the least likely to have a large church – it’s purely a God-thing.

Below is Tim Steven’s summary of Perry’s talk:

• A county of 170,000 people.
• I can’t figure out why God is using us. We just pray, “yes — whatever you want, that’s what we are going to do.”
• Message to Senior Pastors — your church will get on fire when you do.
• In 1999, God laid it on my heart to start a church. This was a problem because I didn’t even like churches. Pastors seemed fake to me.
• In the south, we are known for two things–Waffle House and churches. There is one of each on every corner. But still, 48% were unchurched.
• August of 2002 we had 500 people. The next week we had 900 people show up. The next week 1000, then 1100 the next week. We went from 500 to 1600 in six weeks and I still have no idea why. It was a God thing.
• We had over 4500 people coming every week in rented facilities.

Four quick thoughts that have worked for Perry and his team…

1. Engage — church is boring. Church should be the most engaging place on the planet. If the tomb really is empty, let’s get excited about it.
2. Enlarge — numbers represent souls. No one has ever accused me of being deep. We decided to be more concerned with comes in the door than who goes out the door. Some people say we need to close the back door of the church. Are you kidding? The church is the body. You close the back door of the body, you end up with a constipated church.
3. Endure — A church is not effective when the pastor ministers to the people. They are only effective when the people minister to each other.
4. Enable — let people do what they are good at. Empower them for ministry. I’m not responsible for the passion of someone else. Find people who love God. If you get them involved, it will be amazing what will happen in their life.

This is an amazing time to be alive. Can you imagine if Paul could blog? If Peter could hop on a plane?

 

The Innovative Church Conference

The Innovative Church Conference started yesterday and went through today at Granger Community Church. I would have loved to have been at this conference, but am just too sore to travel. Granger is a church that I’ve been following for about 7 years – since I heard their pastor speak at Saddleback’s Purpose Driven Church Conference. I’ve shared their web resource: WiredChurches.com with countless people. They are a great church and are helping many other churches become great.

For a play-by-play analysis of the 2006 Innovative Church Conference, check out Tony Morgan, Tim Stevens, Perry Noble or Mark Batterson’s blogs. Check back at WiredChurches.com to see and hear more slices from this year’s conference.

And if you couldn’t make it this year, don’t worry. There are more opportunities coming up. Next year, the Innovative Church Conference will be held on September 27-28, 2007. You can also check out one-day workshops that are being held on Granger’s campus November 10, like Maximizing the Arts, Simply Strategic Volunteers, Communications and Discipleship.

 

A Birthday Present…

Anyone got a Catalyst Conference hookup? At first I thought with the timing of my surgery and when I’d be able to travel that I couldn’t go. Now, I see that I will be able to fly, can get flight tickets and have a place to stay, but no pass for the conference. Does anyone reading this happen to have an extra pass/badge?

 

Reflections on MinistryCOM

Now that I’m back from Phoenix and have had time to reflect on my experience at MinistryCOM, I thought I’d share my thoughts. Though, I taught a class, I still got to float around and catch as many sessions as I could. Here is my 2 cents:

1. MinistryCOM, under the direction of Terrell Sanders, did a great job of bringing in high caliber speakers (keynotes and workshops). Considering this was just the 2nd year for the conference, there was a very impressive line up of guest speakers. My two favorite sessions were actually large group sessions: One was by Kem Meyer and the other was the opening session by Mark Batterson. I’m sure Brad Abare’s closing session would have been a favorite, too, but I had to leave early to catch a flight (which we ended up missing anyway).

2. MinistryCOM is living proof at how quickly the Church world is changing. This conference wouldn’t have been possible even 5 years ago. That this conference had under 300 attendees is not a negative reflection on the conference, but a true reflection of the fact there are maybe 500 (max) Communication Directors or Communication Pastors that serve on staff at churches nationwide. As the field of communication continues to grow and become more and more of a priority and neccessity, the conference will grow right along with it.

3. I was encouraged to see so many artists (I speak at a lot of pastor or musician or techie conferences) – this was a cool experience to meet and be surrounded by so many gifted and creative folks.

4. I was encouraged and pleased to see that so many of these gifted artists have a desire and passion for the following: networking, growing, improving their skills set and improving their systems, processes and the way they administrate and organize their ministries.

5. I was encouraged and pleased that probably behind each attendee was a church that believed enough in the position and the person to put their money where their mouth is and send them to a conference like this.

Looking toward next year: If you’re a pastor reading this blog, please plan on sending someone from your church that acts in a role of communications director, webmaster, designer/graphic artist – anything like that. You won’t regret it!

 

Good Conference, Bad Trip Home

Anthony and I left this afternoon and had a wild trip home. It’s 12:30am and I’m just now home. I was supposed to be back around 9pm. We missed our flight and had to switch airlines and take a later flight. When we finally arrived in Dallas, wouldn’t you know it: my bag didn’t make it!

Other than the trip home, it was a great conference. I met some great people and got to see some friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Anthony and I were able to get some interviews for our new podcast, which launches very soon.

Look for upcoming interviews with:

Kem Meyer (Granger Community Church)

Mark Batterson (Theater Church)

Brad Abare (Church Marketing Sucks)

Shawn Wood (Seacoast Church)

 

A2 Conference

I’ll admit it: I’m a conference junky. From speaking at several conferences to going as an attendee, I get to experience a lot of conferences. Today I leave to speak at the MinistryCOM National Conference in Phoenix.

I want to make sure you’re aware of the A2 Conference which takes place Oct. 25-27. This looks like one of the most innovative and practical conferences I’ve seen in a while. I’m thrilled to see that Craig Groeschel, founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv is going to be there! LifeChurch.tv, in my opinion, is the fastest growing and most innovative church in the country, yet many of you may have never heard of them. LifeChurch.tv is only 10 years old, yet see over 17,000 people in 30 weekly worship experiences at 7 locations. Why have so many not heard of this amazing church? I’m not sure why, but they really fly low under the radar. This is the first conference I’ve ever seen announce that Craig is one of the featured speakers.

Want to find out more about LifeChurch.tv? I blogged about them twice. Once on their open source resource and once after my 2nd time visiting there. I’ll move on from LifeChurch.tv and Craig Groeschel. FYI – Matthew Barnett from The Dream Center will be speaking, too!
This blog is to tell you about the A2 Conference, which is being held at Willow Creek. Notice I said, “held”. On the conference website, they have a statement which I’ll type in for you: “A2 is a conference sponsored by the Willow Creek Association, but it’s not about Willow Creek Community Church…A2 is focused on five innovative church ministries, and showcasing them in a format that helps every church understand deeper issues and transferable principles.”

Check it out and if you can, GO!