Next Thursday I’m heading up to Dallas-Forth Worth for a day to connect with Children’s Pastors and leaders from several large ministries. I’m really excited to partner with Greg Baird and speak, lead some conversations and learn from others on the subject of leadership within the context of leading in large churches.

The brains behind Worlds of Wow have put together a unique event at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX and I’m pretty pumped. It’s not too often when you’re in a room with other leaders who all lead at the same capacity or greater than you. I’m humbled because although I’ll be sharing the stage with Greg, I feel there’s probably much I could learn from those in the room. The thing I’ve found though is that this kind of stuff keeps you sharp. As I’ve been preparing for this event, I’ve been reminded of leadership gems I’ve gotten rusty on or simply stopped doing. Speaking and leading discussions like this sure keeps you honest… and focused.

I’m sure I’ll post more about this next week along with some information I’ve been preparing… hopefully to keep you sharp as well!

No, I didn’t attend CPC this year. I explained why here. However, I must say that I was keeping my finger on the pulse of the conference all last week. I was constantly following the CPC twitter hashtag, texting friends who were there and peering in any way that I could. Believe it or not, I actually have some opinions about this year’s event. But, I need to share some background.

I first attended CPC in Atlanta back in 2003 (I think) and it was actually a great experience. It was the first time I had ever attended a Children’s Ministry conference and I learned a lot. Several years later in 2007, I attended again in Orlando. I wasn’t really impressed. I had fun and it was valuable time, but not as much because of CPC but because of the time I had with my staff. I figured that it would probably be the last year I attended CPC. The following year I went to Orange, mainly because it seemed to be the event that was attracting the leaders who were speaking to my heart and ministry.

About a year ago, I got a phone call from an executive head hunter. They were looking to fill the vacant role of Executive Director of INCM. The head hunter asked me a lot of questions about INCM and CPC. I was brutally honest, but I remember telling her that I had a lot of hope for CPC. I felt (and still do) that there’s always room for more voices in the world of kidmin and it was my hope that CPC could turn the corner and be a significant voice in kidmin. I was thrilled when they hired Michael Chanley (one of the people I recommended to the head hunter) because I knew that INCM and CPC had a fighting chance!

What I experienced last week at CPC (through blogs, tweets and texts) showed me that the CPC is not through. It appeared that CPC knocked it out of the park and was the voice of relevance and significance it had been for so many years (even if it lost its way for a time). Many of the keynotes and breakouts were conversations about things that really matter. I really wish I’d been able to be there. Next year I won’t have any infants in the house, so hopefully I’ll be able to participate.

Great job Michael Chanley and your INCM team! I look forward to seeing what ya’ll can take this thing to!

Yesterday I made an announcement via the KidzMatter weekly email blast. As many of you may know, the Illuminate Conference is making final preparations for the last stop in the 2011-2012 conference year. On February 18th, we’re going to have our largest Illuminate Conference in Nashville, TN. If you’re in the area and want more information, be sure to check out that event here.

However, I know that most who read this blog are not able to make it to Nashville due to the distance. Austin and Birmingham wasn’t really close enough either. Illuminate’s DNA is to offer high quality events that are both local and affordable. Unfortunately, we can’t be local for everyone… yet (give me a little time people). Ha!

However, all along it’s been my intention to provide great resources for kidmin leaders and volunteers, regardless of location. Every general session and breakout has been recorded for that very purpose. So, on March 1st, Illuminate Online will officially go “Online!” The site is still being put together and resources organized, but I think it’s going to be a really cool resource for those in kidmin. For more information, head on over and check it out here.

Stay tuned for more info soon!

It’s a pretty simple reason and I have no regrets. Last Spring I was invited to be a part of CPC in 2012 and with a brand new little girl at the time of these events, we made the difficult choice of saying no. This is very unfortunate as I’m more than a little bummed that so many of my ministry friends are all going to be in Orlando this week. That’s fine, perhaps I’ll be there next year.

I am excited to keep up with all that’s going on. The team at CPC have put together a great cast of bloggers and I hope to learn from their experiences as written in their blogs. Be sure to follow the bloggers below. Have fun… but not too much fun without me!

• Jonathan Cliff
• Karl Bastian
• Ryan Frank
• Matt Mckee
• Gina McClain
• Justyn Smith
• Roger Fields
• Jim Wideman
• Andy Johnson
• James Kennison
• Anne Clay

So, if you live within 3-5 hours of Nashville, TN, I highly encourage you to check out Illuminate as a viable training option for your staff and volunteers. Technically, the early bird rate expired last Friday, but I’m extending it through this week. Anyone who registers by Christmas can save some money.

I know it’s just a few days before the craziness of Christmas Eve services, last minute shopping and good family time, but I’d highly encourage anyone within driving distance of Nashville to consider registering this week. I’ve actually got a great story that I’ll post later today that should encourage anyone.

Click here to do something great for your staff and volunteers!

Now with the Birmingham, AL and the Austin, TX events over, what is next?

Well, on February 18th, we do have our Nashville event, but we have something else up our sleeves as well. It’s called Illuminate Online.

The central vision behind Illuminate is to offer high-quality training for volunteers that it both local and affordable. Unfortunately, Illuminate only has three stops this year which means it can only offer local training for a few regions. So, Illuminate is taking to the web. Although it isn’t the same, much of what you might experience at Illuminate will be available online.

Last Friday, we shot over 3 hours of video content designed specifically for Illuminate Online. I’m excited to make it available soon. How soon? Probably in January. That’s the anticipated launch date of Illuminate Online. As January gets closer, I’ll share more information about the unique strategy of Illuminate Online. If you’re interested in getting updates on Illuminate Online, sign up to be notified here (click on Illuminate Online).

I’m excited to say that Illuminate has year two behind it now with just finishing the second event in Austin, TX. Although we had a very high retention of churches come back again (in addition to many new churches), I was amazed by how many people were brand new this year. It felt like the whole room.

I’m incredibly blessed because everything went so exceedingly well. Other than the little tweak here and the adjustment there, there isn’t much of anything that I would change. It was a fantastic second year event. I’ll be sending out email evaluations later this week, but that hasn’t stopped the emails from coming in already. Here are what some people are saying:

“Again I wanted to say great job!  My team was buzzing like crazy the whole way back home. We had a great time and learned so much!  Thank you for dreaming up a conference that truly blesses volunteers.”

“Thank you for all of the work, time, heart, and prayer that you all put into today’s program. We walked away encouraged and inspired!”

“I was so very blessed to attend this conference.  God is working in so many different areas of our ministry here, due to the conference. I just can’t fully describe in words how this conference has changed my thinking and how God was making plans last spring and summer!!  What a blessing you and Illuminate has been to me and will be to our church from birth to college aged.”

I’ll be honest, there have been times this year when I’ve questioned whether I really needed to do this. As great of an idea as it has been, it’s been a lot of hard work and at times very frustrating. But seeing it happen and hearing how much it impacted people make ever bit worth it. I’ll write more posts this week about what happened at the event.

Today is Wednesday and the Austin Illuminate begins in three days. I’m so excited!!! We have over 50 churches from all over the state of Texas (and even one from Oregon) gathering at my home church this Saturday. Although the registration are not exactly where I had initially hoped, we have experienced very healthy growth this year over last year and I think we’re going to have a great crowd with some dynamic energy for this little event. So, let me tell you why I’m so stoked about this weekend.

1. Connecting with people who I love and respect – I’ll be perfectly honest. There is some selfish motivation behind me starting the Illuminate Conference. There are several people who lead in the local church that I have gotten very close to over the years. They’ve impacted my life and I can’t imagine doing ministry without them in my world. They’ve become dear friends and I’ve invited them to speak at this event for two reasons. First, because I believe that they’re some of  the best of the best and I want these people speaking into my volunteers and the people who lead kidmin in my city and state. Secondly, I brought them here because I love any time I can get with these people!
2. Building up the church – I believe that Illuminate has the potential to be a game-changer within the local church. Once a volunteer gets “fired up” there’s no telling what they’re going to do. There are precious few resources out there that exist to “fire up” volunteers. My hope is that volunteers will get a better glimpse of what they’ve been called to and as a result of this weekend, churches will never be the same.
3. Equipping my volunteers – So this whole Illuminate thing came about over a year ago as a method to better equip our own volunteers. Even though it is super exciting that hundreds of kidmin staff and volunteers will come and grow, I’m most excited about the 75 volunteers and leaders that serve the kids at Gateway week in and week out. This has always been about them and I’m excited about what they’re going to get out of this event.
4. Making new connections – If you read any of my posts from the last week or two, you’ll see that I’m passionate about connecting with others, especially those who serve kids locally. It wasn’t always this way, but I’m really on mission to find others who do what I do in my city. I’m excited because there are a lot of people coming to Illuminate that I’ve never met that serve right down the road from me. I hope that Saturday is the the beginning of many new relationships.

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything about Illuminate, so I thought I’d catch everyone up. It’s truly been a wild and exciting ride this year.

The Austin event is just 11 days away. I’m expecting about 500 kidmin folks to converge on the Gateway Church campus on November 12th and it’s going to be amazing. I’ve got a stellar line-up of speakers. Check it out:

• Jim Wideman
• Sam Luce
• Michael Chanley
• Gina McClain
• Dan Scott
• Amy Fenton Lee
• Jonathan Cliff
• Matt McKee

With two Illuminate Conferences under my belt, one thing is sure… Illuminate is like no other conference. At both Austin (2010) and Birmingham (2011) I heard the same thing over and over.

Amazing!

Incredible!

Inspiring!

Encouraging!

That’s what kidmin volunteers from Texas, Alabama and Georgia all had to say about their Illuminate experience. So, the only logical thing to do is more events, right? That’s what I thought too.

On Saturday, February 18th, 2012… Illuminate comes to the great city of Nashville, TN! Details are still coming together (like speakers and breakouts) but we do have a handful of great communicators already lined up.

• Jim Wideman (General Sessions and Leader Q & A)
• Jonathan Cliff
• Amy Fenton Lee
• I’ll be there too… plus a few others

For more information about Illuminate, check out illuminateconference.tv. For more information about the Nashville event, visit nashville.illuminateconference.tv.