In Orlando for the first afternoon at Exponential ~ the National New Church Conference. It's been great feeling the beautiful 80-degree Florida weather and seeing friends from the blogging world live and in person.
Wayne Cordiero from New Hope Church in Hawaii did a great in the first plenary session talking about the devotional life of the church planter. I've been a pastor now for 8 years, and messages about my personal time with God always hit me between the eyes.
Wayne continued to press home the idea that "people will come from miles around for fresh bread" [meaning a fresh word from God]. You don't need a band, lights, programming to reach people if you have the genuine mark of the Spirit in your life.
Mark Batterson rocked the house in a break-out session for post-launch planters on the topic of creating culture within the church. Mark has got to be the most quotable guy on the planet, and I can never write fast enough to catch every good think that comes out of his mouth.
One of the big take-aways from Mark's talk: Stay positive. Our service should be the most enjoyable hour of the week. Just like hospitals, people ought to feel better when they walk out the door.
Ben, how many people do you think are at the conference? More people than flat screens on the stage? Keep your eyes open for a guy named Michael Grose. He is my former pastor from the Quarry.
Posted by: Brenton Balvin | April 24, 2007 at 07:06 PM
Ben,
It was great meeting you today at the conference. Mark did indeed rock the house!
I'm looking forward to having some more interaction with you and others. The bloggers roundtable should be a blast.
Also, since you were asking, I linked to my blog in this comment this time. Feel free to visit.
Posted by: Luke Dooley | April 25, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Luke, great to meet you too... I'll check out your blog!
Brenton, there are about 2,000 people here. It completely fills the sanctuary of first baptist orlando which is huge.
Posted by: Ben Arment | April 25, 2007 at 09:53 AM