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 I recently had the opportunity to attend the Innovate 09 Conference at Granger Community Church, South Bend, Indiana. This was one of the greatest conferences for churches I have ever attended. One of the reasons, the host church was very intentional to celebrate the Body of Christ. At most conferences held for churches, the host church typically uses the stage as a platform to display their band, speaker, creative arts, etc. and basically communicate "this is how we do it and we would love for you to learn from us." While there's not anything wrong with this necessarily, Granger approached things differently.
They selected (in advance) four churches attending the conference and gave them the stage for about fifteen minutes each, giving them the chance to "bring their A Game" with worship, creative teaching and drama. I was blown away. These guys are no joke. They put the capital E in Excellence like nothing I had ever seen. It was an honor to be in the room with them.
The second thing that captured my attention and heart was the fact that though some of the most influential churches in the country were in the room as attendees, the atmosphere was that of a deep hunger for God and intentional community building. I didn't feel "lost" when I walked in. I felt welcomed. And I didn't feel "wowed" with activity and motion around me. I felt in awe of the presence of God.
The third reason Innovate impacted me so much is because my own senior pastor (Shannon O'Dell, www.brandnewchurch.com) was a guest speaker. And he knocked it out of the park!
Okay, so what did I learn from the conference? Here were some teaching highlights I grabbed onto, or should I say, that grabbed onto me. Here were my Top Ten:
- If you want to influence today's culture, you have to be able to communicate with the culture. (Mark Beeson, Senior Pastor, Granger)
- I have a grave concern that church in America has become just a building. It has become like wallpaper that you pass and don't even notice. (Mark Beeson)
- I believe the most unchurched place on the planet is rural America. (Pastor Shannon O'Dell)
- God blesses those who are serious about transformed lives. (Pastor Shannon O'Dell)
- If you are married, you are required by God to have a red hot marriage. If you have kids, you are required to disciple them. (Shannon O'Dell)
- You can't expect your church to grow if your spiritual life doesn't have vitality. (Shannon O'Dell)
- People think there are limitations to the Gospel. When you are loving people, there are no limitations to the Gospel. (Chris Conley, High Point Church, Memphis, TN)
- Does every idea have to be our own and original? Why not learn from others? Why not contextualize an element another church has created? We spend too much time asking, "Is it original?" Instead of asking, "Is it effective?" (Executive Pastor Tim Stevens, Granger)
- People are desperate to hear the gospel. The problem is that we aren't desperate enough to do whatever it takes to get it to them. (Shannon O'Dell)
- "Will it be it worth it?" It's a question every leader must ask of himself and be able to answer clearly before embarking on an activity that requires great effort. To get at the answer, I ask myself another question: What is the potential of this activity to affect the greatest positive change in the world? (Butch Whitmire, Pastor of Creative Arts, Granger)
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