Willow Creek Conference, Day 2

I never get up quickly. It usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to actually get out of bed. When you add time for a shower and traffic, I got here just in time (but not in time to grab some breakfast).


My first session was led by Efram Smith, a minister at a multi-cultural church in Minneapolis. He was a great speaker. The topic was on using gifts and passion in ministry, but also included the idea of using our frustrations and our past as motivation for doing more effective ministry. Most people just grumble and gripe, but that only breeds negativity. Frustration is not useful unless it leads to something positive.

Anyway, I will post notes for that session as well.

Mark Miller, a marketing exec for Chic-fil-A, led my second session. He is also considered a creativity guru. He led us through various techniques we can utilize to help creativity flourish and how we can keep ideas coming. That can be a hard thing for many of us “creative types”. We sometimes get looked at as some sort of idea machine. The thing is, sometimes the machine is empty. What then? That is where Mark steps in. I will post notes from this session later as well. *one thing about my note taking, I tend to take notes by hand. I write all over a sheet of paper, and in all directions. I make sidebar notes, draw arrows, and draw emphatic symbols. This doesn’t translate well to a computer document. I may take pictures of my notes and then upload them as pdf files. However, they may not make much sense to anyone but me in the original format. I dunno what I will do. Still trying to figure that out.

During the lunch break, I took some pictures of a paint project that is going on. Basically, there were four blank canvases that we were encouraged to paint expressions of hope and faith onto. Then at the conclusion of the weekend, these paintings will be given to four churches. Pretty cool. Here are a few of the pics I took.










My sessions for the afternoon including a snapshot of a weekend service at Mosaic (in southern California) Erwin McManus ministers to Mosaic, but we got to hear from one of their creative arts ministers. The first part was music. It was a stripped down group, just a guitarist/lead singer, a sax player, and a backup singer/keybordist. We did a few Mosaic originals and a few new standards (Tomlin, Crowder).
The best part of the “service” was a dance by a troupe from their church. First of all it was not just a hodge-podge of untalented hopefuls. It was made up of professional dancers. I am not usually impressed with church dance, mostly because it is not very well done. But this really moved me to tears. I even spent a few minutes talking to two of the dancers afterwards. They were really great.
Finally, David Arcos (the creative arts minister) spoke about hearing the voice of God and about encouraging and empowering others to do the same.

Overall, it was a great experience, and one of my favorite moments of the conference.

I can’t get over the dance. So many times I feel like throwing in the towel. Ministry is a thankless task and often we get only negative feedback. After a while that starts to hurt your heart. I struggle with what to do with my ministry life. Watching this dance group and seeing how passionate they were, how talented they were, and how dedicated they were was so inspirational and encouraging. In a strong way it confirmed some things about me and my future in ministry. I know that I cannot use my gifts and passions in a lot of traditional places. I think God is really pushing me to make some tough but incredibly exciting choices.

The last session I had was called “Simplicity as a way of life”. This class was not necessarily about consumerism or material simplicity. It was about spiritual simplicity. Uncluttering your soul. Realigning your life with the will of God. Slowing down and listening for God’s voice. It was led by Mindy Calquire, a leader of a group called “Soul Care” that specializes in mentoring and serving church leaders and organizations. She was really a great speaker and motivator. I took a lot of notes in this session too. I need to figure out what I am going to do about getting some notes posted. It might be a day or two. I need to process all of this.

Tomorrow is the final day. I get to hear Don Miller and Erwin Mcmanus speak and then I have to rush to the airport to catch my flight (which I pray will not get delayed) back to Dayton. Well that’s it for the night, I am pretty tired, gonna veg out for a bit.