MinistryCOM '07

Wow! What a day.

HUGE props to Terrell, Mark Bennardo, (producer extraordinare) Chris Forbes & Evan McBroom for doing all they did to make this year's event outstanding. "Kicking it up a notch" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Although the speakers have been fantastic, this has been truly experiential, friends. Sure, get the cds this year but ya don't want to miss this again--I can only imagine what's planned for '08.

Unfortunately, I missed Terry's opening session, but everyone I've heard from so far said he totally knocked it out of the park. [which is no big surprise.. the guy is brilliant] Can't wait to listen to the tape :)

Michael Buckingham of Holy Cow Creative hosted a Church Marketing Sucks Lab LIVE! session--My favorite idea that was shared was the bar napkins printed with the church's info that was given out with chocolate chip cookies as an outreach for college students. Cheap. Unexpected. Memorable. I loved it.

Brad Abare closed with some encouraging words reminding us to be salty, transparent, locally focused & keep it simple. We did a quick exercise with our neighbor to demonstrate what it feels like to be transparent by placing our hand on the other person's shoulder & looking into their eyes for 30 seconds.

It was a very long 30 seconds.
[Thanks, Tony for hanging in there with me ;)]

Afterward I had a chance to connect for dinner with a few friends & catch up... always my favorite part in these types of things.

Tomorrow I'm really looking forward to hearing Shawn kick us off with his session on Brand Schizophrenia. He shared a bit with me earlier today & it looks to be stellar. I think it's going to add so much value for folks wrestling with the challenges of consistently living out their brand promise.

Combine that with Ashely's speaking debut on Graphic Design in Ministry, Copyright Essentials [which I'm often asked about & humbly admit I don't know much about], & Paul's lost Gizmo talk that we missed last year and we have an action-packed day. Kem's closing session is sure to be amazing.. but she's always amazing....

Looking forward to it!

Comments

[Michael Buckingham]

Was great to finally meet you in person. We go to conferences under the notion of gaining new insights and we gain the most insights from the new relationships we make. In the end, it's about people.