I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well.

Stay tuned…

Yesterday I had the privlidge of attending Lifeway’s web broadcast announcing the Gospel Project. It was a great day of learning, exploring what the Gospel Project was all about and connecting with some new friends. The people at Lifeway were great hosts and I’m glad to know so many of them now.

I’m sure the webcast will be available to watch later (I’ll post a link when it is) and I encourage you to watch it. I don’t know how many people were watching the stream, but twitter was blowing up using #thegospelproject. Actually, this hashtag was trending globally, which is VERY impressive.

The webcast featured three speakers, Matt Chandler, J.D. Greear, Ed Stetzer with Trevin Wax moderating discussion. Here’s a little of the content:

Matt Chandler

• Paul seems eager to keep the message of the Gospel in front of those who are following Christ, not just for those who weren’t following Jesus.
• Too often, church experience seem to be more about promoting Christian Moralistic Deism as opposed to the message of the gospel.
• Give people the ability to read the scripture correctly. The Bible is “A” story… not 66 individual stories.
• Teach biblical morality within the context of the redemptive story, otherwise we become self-righteous or beat down.
• When you don’t point the story back to the greater gospel message, the stories become moralistic stories that don’t alway apply to where I am in my life.

JD Greear

• The gospel is not just the diving board into the Christian life, but it is the pool.
• When our heart changes, or behavior changes… so go after heart issues as opposed to tweaking behavior.
• When we grow deeper in the gospel, our desire for righteousness changes.
• It’s the power of grace that motivates and provides an environment for change.
• (Example) When it comes to motivating people to generosity… Some use greed, others use guilt. But we’re usually not generous naturally. God is a greater source of security. He’s a truer example of generosity.
• We are idolaters and the only way to change our behavior is to address the heart that fuels the behaviors.
• It’s not about looking for weird and obscure connections, but seeing the themes of God’s redemptive story in every story.
• The characters of the Old Testaments are not just there to point us toward emulation (although many of them have moments worth emulating)
• The hero of every story should be the hero of the Bible.
• Gospel centered is not just how you begin, but how you grow.

Ed Stetzer

• The Gospel Project, you are the project and the gospel is working on you.
• Why does this matter? It leads us to being on mission.
• We don’t wan’t religious consumers instead, we want mission co-laborers.
• I don’t want to ever preach a message that would be true without the cross, otherwise I’m just dispensing advice.
• We should be asking ourselves, “What is distinctively Christian about this message?”
• Biblical illiteracy and theological confusion is prevalent today… but we don’t want to create knowledge junkies.
• Theology, Gospel, Mission – an early name for the Gospel Project.
• We can know a lot and do a little and we miss the whole point when we don’t become co-laborers with Christ.
• People confuse minutia with meat.
• The Gospel Project wants you to go deep, but also go out. These two are inseparable.
• The majority of people in the majority of churches are unengaged. We’re speaking to rooms filled with spectators.

The Gospel Project webcast goes live at 2:00 PM. It’s been a great morning/day already and I’m excited to experience the presentation.

Click here to watch the webcast.

This April I’ll be attending my 5th Orange Conference and I must say that I’m very excited. Last year was an incredibly experience from connecting with some of my favorite people, learning from some of the greatest leaders in ministry and being honored with the opportunity to lead a handful of breakouts.

Well, I must have done all right as I’ve been invited back again to lead another breakout. I’ll be leading Preconference Workshop #3 “How To: Connect with Parents Via Social Networking.” This is on Wednesday at 1:30 PM. Here’s what I’m excited about.

• If you select the “Social Media in Ministry” track, you’ll find four workshops being taught by Matt McKee, Gina McClain and me. I think it’s a fun that I get to be a part of this track with some of my best friends in ministry.
• I led this same workshop with Matt McKee this year, but don’t you worry, this breakout is getting a total overhaul. So even if you attended this breakout last year, you’ll get all new content.
• Only a week after breakout registration opened up, this breakout is already over half-way full. If you want in, you better sign up before it’s full (and no, I will not tell you what the breakout is about later… ha!).

Here’s the description:

HOW TO: Connect with Parents Via Social Media
What would be the ultimate take home for parents when they leave your ministry? Parents need more than a take home sheet of paper. Use Social Media instead to spread ideas, communication, and create strategies that will enable you to better connect and partner with parents. Leverage social technology to broaden your impact.

Just so you know, I felt like a dork typing in that title. Whatever. So it’s Thursday and it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. I’ve had a lot of distractions, namely the Nashville Illuminate Conference. Let me just say, I love my Nashville peeps. The event was hands down amazing! The best yet. Everyone from my incredible hosts at Long Hollow to all the people who attended were so wonderful. Although Illuminate was created to be a blessing to those who serve in kidmin, I’m pretty sure that I left the event that day more blessed than anyone else.

Now that my 2011-2012 events are wrapped up, I’m working on launching Illuminate Online and working out dates for 2012-2013. Exciting stuff for sure and I’m already dreaming up huge things for next year! Woo hoo!

Below are some of my favorite tweets from last Saturday:

Ryan_Millard1Feb 18, 9:01am via Buffer
pumped to be at the #illumin8 conference!! here we GO!! going to be a great day!

robynbcollinsFeb 18, 9:21am via instagram
@longhollow #illumin8instagr.am/p/HJt4kYNBCl/

gina_mcclainFeb 18, 9:26am via HootSuite
At opening session of #illumin8 listening to @kennyconley pour into some of our @faithpromise volunteers.

josephreedFeb 18, 9:36am via Twitter for iPhone
We are having a blast already at #illumin8. @pointofmercy #KidsPoint. #fb

RachelTaylor872Feb 18, 9:56am via txt
God created the home before He created the church. #illumin8

adambayneFeb 18, 9:56am via TweetDeck
The best thing a #kidmin leader can do for his ministry is to have a relationship with Jesus.#illumin8

jamiehamptonFeb 18, 10:04am via ÜberSocial for BlackBerry
“The heart can only grasp what the rear end can endure” @jimwideman on#timemanagement #illumin8 #kidmin

michaelchanleyFeb 18, 10:34am via HootSuite
RT @suzannecrowell: The only way I know how to move an elephant is with a chainsaw @jimwideman #illumin8 #kidmin // Epic!

rogerfieldsFeb 18, 11:31am via Twitter for iPhone
Listening to @jonathancliff at #illumin8 He is killing it! Great stuff! #kidmin #cmconnect

craiggyergyoFeb 18, 1:04pm via Twitter for Mac
Having an awesome discussion over lunch with @HCmemphis volunteers at #illumin8

thejoshwootenFeb 18, 2:10pm via web

“people don’t buy in to what you do, they buy into why you do it” @kennyconley #illumin8#kidmin preach
cherylp90Feb 18, 1:37pm via Twitter for iPhone
@kennyconley #illumin8 is awesome!

Ryan_Millard1Feb 18, 2:24pm via HootSuite
#illumin8 has been fantastic.. Ready for a great last main session!

cherylp90Feb 18, 2:40pm via Twitter for iPhone
@jonathancliff Some of my team sat in on your morning session and told me it was fabulous! Thanks for pumping them up! #illumin8

jamiehamptonFeb 18, 3:27pm via HootSuite
“People need to be needed more than you need the help.” #illumin8 #kidmin

craiggyergyoFeb 18, 4:25pm via Twitter for Mac
Incredible day at #illumin8 with @kennyconley@jimwideman @jonathancliff + others! Well done!

ucacheer2213Feb 18, 6:27pm via Twitter for iPhone
I can’t get over how amazing #illumin8 was!#kidmin @GodWhy

jen_funderburkeFeb 18, 7:37pm via HootSuite
So Proud of @kennyconley for an awesome#illumin8 grateful for all he does for the kingdom and grateful to call him my friend.#kidmin

jenkinsphotoFeb 19, 1:34pm via web
I learned so much at #illumin8 Kid’s Ministry Conference yesterday. Excited to put some ideas to work!
TdiddysampleyFeb 19, 7:45pm via Twitter for iPhone
#illumin8 The conference was amazing my Kidmin team has some great ideas! Thanks for serving the church body!

And I’m pumped!

As of right now, we have 522 people registered to attend!

That’s right, 522! Crazy number for just a regional conference. I’m so grateful to the local Nashville churches who helped get the word out. It’s going to be an amazing event and I expect to see hundreds of volunteers encouraged and equipped this Saturday. It’s going to be awesome!

So, if you’ve been thinking about coming, it’s not too late. Online registration will remain open until Wednesday at noon. After that, anyone can register at the door (doors open at 8:00 AM) on Saturday, February 18th! I really hope to see you there!

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