It's almost 2 AM... I have a reaaaaalllly long blog almost ready to go to wrap up the day, but I need to review, edit, and add photos before it will be ready for prime time, and I'm just too tired to deal with all of that tonight....
I will try to wrap up and post first thing in the morning.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
NYWC Atlanta - Day 3
We were so tired this morning that when the alarm clock went off I just killed it onto the floor and went back to sleep. As such, we missed the 8:00 seminars this morning. I was really hoping to go hear Dave Ambrose share the seminar 'What Monks Can Teach Us'... I'll be picking it up on MP3 before we split.
Since we were running a tad behind, Jenn made a break for general session and got seats with Marty & Alan in the "cheap seats" area while I waited in line at Starbucks for vanilla bean frappuccinos and scones.
Shane & Shane are really talented guys and Chris Tomlin was really good.
The speaker at the general session was Phyllis Tickle, and she was amazing!
Her session had to do with the huge change that the church is undergoing as denominational lines among Christians are blurring and ermgent patterns are developing all across Christianity as we know it...
She was very very deep, but I really connected with her message... I texted Steve during the session and his reply was something like "Fiesty old grandma' ain't she".
I'm definitely picking up her session on DVD. Steve needs to see it, and I want to watch it again.
Jenn went to the Women in Youth ministry luncheon at 12:15, and I came down here to the tables near the exhibit hall to blog, which I have now been doing for two hours non-stop...
My battery is about to die, I need to go check the score of the Buckeye's game, and I really need to look up some lunch after Jenn gets back from scoping out the show floor.
More updates later.
-E
Since we were running a tad behind, Jenn made a break for general session and got seats with Marty & Alan in the "cheap seats" area while I waited in line at Starbucks for vanilla bean frappuccinos and scones.
Shane & Shane are really talented guys and Chris Tomlin was really good.
The speaker at the general session was Phyllis Tickle, and she was amazing!
Her session had to do with the huge change that the church is undergoing as denominational lines among Christians are blurring and ermgent patterns are developing all across Christianity as we know it...
She was very very deep, but I really connected with her message... I texted Steve during the session and his reply was something like "Fiesty old grandma' ain't she".
I'm definitely picking up her session on DVD. Steve needs to see it, and I want to watch it again.
Jenn went to the Women in Youth ministry luncheon at 12:15, and I came down here to the tables near the exhibit hall to blog, which I have now been doing for two hours non-stop...
My battery is about to die, I need to go check the score of the Buckeye's game, and I really need to look up some lunch after Jenn gets back from scoping out the show floor.
More updates later.
-E
NYWC Atlanta - Day 2 - In Review (Continued)
When Jenn was done taking the show floor by storm, we were able to grab some relatively close seats for the opening General Session.
Marquis Laughlin and Joe Castillo are both amazing, and I have decided that from a distance I like the music of Flatfoot 56. Because we needed to gain some distance to enjoy them, we sort of lost of our seats to listen to Andy Stanley and Jenn and I ended up sitting together at the tables near the exhibit hall to just relax until the general session ended and our afternoon seminars began.
Unbeknownst to us, Gavin busted us skipping the speaker. I found this in his Flikr set this morning.
I went to a session called 'The Expectations that Killed the Youth Worker' by Marko & Mark Riddle.
There was a large segment of the session on conflict resolution, and developing realistic expectations for the Youth workers role in the church. Along with some great stories by both Marks... The most striking moment of the seminar though, was probably this...
Marko had everyone in the room who was a PAID Youth worker stand up. Due to the nature of the seminar ( let's face it, if you're a volunteer and you don't like the expectations the church is putting on you, you go somewhere else ) most of the people in the room stood up... 80 percent or so I would guess...
THEN he asked everyone who as standing this... "If your church stopped paying you to do youth ministry and you would CONTINUE to go to that church, stay standing"
Marko seemed optimistic about the number of people who didn't sit down... but WOW, a lot of people sat down...
I really feel for all of the people who sat down because I have SO been where they are... Going to a church only because you get paid to do youth ministry there is a hard place to be in... Honestly, it just sucks both for the Youth worker and for the church, and the kids in the youth ministry. It ends up with people getting hurt. I so wish I had been able to hear this seminar three years ago.
I am so blessed to be part of an awesome church where I can honestly say I would continue to attend and get plugged in even if they asked me to step away from the Youth there. It would be hard, don't get me wrong... but I honestly believe that Jenn and I have found our home at RVCC... I've told Steve a couple of times that the only way to get rid of us at this point is to straight up tell us to not come back, because outside of that RVCC is stuck with us.
----------
We felt like we really didn't have time to go to dinner because Jenn really wanted good seats to see Third Day at the general session. So after our afternoon seminars Jenn and I scoped out two more rows of the exhibit hall floor and then went to get near the front of the line for the gates to open and and the seat claiming to begin.
Joe Castillo is just amazing. I'm hoping that Jenn and I can stop by his booth today to get a caricature drawn and buy a couple of his DVD's.
Third Day is great. Jenn loves Mac Powell so while I kept and eye on the seats ( which were a safe distance from the stage ) she went and took up a spot near the front from whence she got some amazing photos. Here's one... We'll have to upload a flickr set of all of our photos from the show later...
The speaker at the general session was Shane Claiborne. He game up on stage, made very brief small talk, breathed fire, did a back flip, put out his torch with his mouth and then prepped the crowd by saying "I'm not going to share the greatest sermon ever given".
He then read the Sermon on the Mount. The whole thing.
I wasn't sitting where I could see Shane right on, but getting to watch his face on the screens while he read was an awesome experience in and of itself... He wasn't just reading. He loved it! He was excited, enthusiastic, he grinned at Jesus' sarcasm, spat out Jesus warnings, preached Jesus' sermon with passion.
When he finished reading ( it took 10 or 15 minutes ) he took a deep breath... paused for a minute, and said "I've just shared the greatest sermon ever given, may God grant us the courage to put it into practice"
And he stepped down off the stage!
Just getting to watch his face and listen to the excitement in his voice while he read gave me chills, but add to that the obvious discomfort in the room while everyone sat in shocked silence, not really sure what to say, or how to react was freaking amazing! I was SO pumped!
Tic came up afterwards to pray and close the session and it was such a relief to hear him say out loud what it was obvious the majority of the room was thinking... "As I sat there listening to him read, I caught myself thinking... Is this all he's going to do?"
The other awesome thing about Shane's choice of message is how uncomfortable it seemed to make the crowd... There is deep truth there! Truth that every single one of us fail to live up to, and choose to ignore ( or only believe selectively ) as we live out our faith in the day to day...
I know we've all heard the sermon on the mount before, and we've all heard bits and pieces of it picked apart and analyzed... but that's the first time in my life I've ever just heard it "preached".
It was awesome!
After the general session Marty, Alan, Jenn and I had a later dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
By the time we were done eating the lack of sleep, and all the day's acitivity just caught up with me and I mentally shut down...
Fell into bed exhausted at 12:30 this morning.
Marquis Laughlin and Joe Castillo are both amazing, and I have decided that from a distance I like the music of Flatfoot 56. Because we needed to gain some distance to enjoy them, we sort of lost of our seats to listen to Andy Stanley and Jenn and I ended up sitting together at the tables near the exhibit hall to just relax until the general session ended and our afternoon seminars began.
Unbeknownst to us, Gavin busted us skipping the speaker. I found this in his Flikr set this morning.
I went to a session called 'The Expectations that Killed the Youth Worker' by Marko & Mark Riddle.
There was a large segment of the session on conflict resolution, and developing realistic expectations for the Youth workers role in the church. Along with some great stories by both Marks... The most striking moment of the seminar though, was probably this...
Marko had everyone in the room who was a PAID Youth worker stand up. Due to the nature of the seminar ( let's face it, if you're a volunteer and you don't like the expectations the church is putting on you, you go somewhere else ) most of the people in the room stood up... 80 percent or so I would guess...
THEN he asked everyone who as standing this... "If your church stopped paying you to do youth ministry and you would CONTINUE to go to that church, stay standing"
Marko seemed optimistic about the number of people who didn't sit down... but WOW, a lot of people sat down...
I really feel for all of the people who sat down because I have SO been where they are... Going to a church only because you get paid to do youth ministry there is a hard place to be in... Honestly, it just sucks both for the Youth worker and for the church, and the kids in the youth ministry. It ends up with people getting hurt. I so wish I had been able to hear this seminar three years ago.
I am so blessed to be part of an awesome church where I can honestly say I would continue to attend and get plugged in even if they asked me to step away from the Youth there. It would be hard, don't get me wrong... but I honestly believe that Jenn and I have found our home at RVCC... I've told Steve a couple of times that the only way to get rid of us at this point is to straight up tell us to not come back, because outside of that RVCC is stuck with us.
----------
We felt like we really didn't have time to go to dinner because Jenn really wanted good seats to see Third Day at the general session. So after our afternoon seminars Jenn and I scoped out two more rows of the exhibit hall floor and then went to get near the front of the line for the gates to open and and the seat claiming to begin.
Joe Castillo is just amazing. I'm hoping that Jenn and I can stop by his booth today to get a caricature drawn and buy a couple of his DVD's.
Third Day is great. Jenn loves Mac Powell so while I kept and eye on the seats ( which were a safe distance from the stage ) she went and took up a spot near the front from whence she got some amazing photos. Here's one... We'll have to upload a flickr set of all of our photos from the show later...
The speaker at the general session was Shane Claiborne. He game up on stage, made very brief small talk, breathed fire, did a back flip, put out his torch with his mouth and then prepped the crowd by saying "I'm not going to share the greatest sermon ever given".
He then read the Sermon on the Mount. The whole thing.
I wasn't sitting where I could see Shane right on, but getting to watch his face on the screens while he read was an awesome experience in and of itself... He wasn't just reading. He loved it! He was excited, enthusiastic, he grinned at Jesus' sarcasm, spat out Jesus warnings, preached Jesus' sermon with passion.
When he finished reading ( it took 10 or 15 minutes ) he took a deep breath... paused for a minute, and said "I've just shared the greatest sermon ever given, may God grant us the courage to put it into practice"
And he stepped down off the stage!
Just getting to watch his face and listen to the excitement in his voice while he read gave me chills, but add to that the obvious discomfort in the room while everyone sat in shocked silence, not really sure what to say, or how to react was freaking amazing! I was SO pumped!
Tic came up afterwards to pray and close the session and it was such a relief to hear him say out loud what it was obvious the majority of the room was thinking... "As I sat there listening to him read, I caught myself thinking... Is this all he's going to do?"
The other awesome thing about Shane's choice of message is how uncomfortable it seemed to make the crowd... There is deep truth there! Truth that every single one of us fail to live up to, and choose to ignore ( or only believe selectively ) as we live out our faith in the day to day...
I know we've all heard the sermon on the mount before, and we've all heard bits and pieces of it picked apart and analyzed... but that's the first time in my life I've ever just heard it "preached".
It was awesome!
After the general session Marty, Alan, Jenn and I had a later dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
By the time we were done eating the lack of sleep, and all the day's acitivity just caught up with me and I mentally shut down...
Fell into bed exhausted at 12:30 this morning.
NYWC Atlanta - Day 2 - In Review
By the time we made it back to the hotel last night we had been going for nineteen hours on six hours of sleep... I was beyond the point of coherence...
Thankfully I took notes to myself on and off throughout the day yesterday because it was too good of a day to not cover in detail.
Jenn's HerStory session went until noonish yesterday, and I was able to spend most of that time just relaxing and lying low at the convention... I walked around the show floor for a little bit, read more in detail about some of the sessions I was planning to attend, and did email and read blogs until about 11:30.
Around 11:45 I had an awesome opportunity to sit down and have lunch with Marko. I've said many times, here on the blog, and in person how much I appreciate Youth Specialties and the work they do to encourage, empower, and equip youth pastors to be more effective in their ministries. And even though I'm a volunteer youth leader in a small church in a small town and may never be a "heavy hitter" in the world of Youth Ministry... it is really cool to be able to come to the conventions and make connections with folks who do wield the big guns in our field...
I really tried to not have an agenda when Marko and we got together because I really just wanted to chat and hang out with him. I know he's been checking blogs on and off throughout the weekend, so if he pops over here hopefully he can confirm that I wasn't a blithering idiot... ( or if I was a blithering idiot, maybe he'll cut me a break since he's famous and probably has to deal with blithering idiots all the time ).
Anyhoo... Had a great lunch just talking and sharing and hanging out. Thanks dude!
Oh... Also as we were wrapping up, I snapped this shot of Marko across the table. I didn't put him up to this, I promise.
Also as we were breaking up Gavin wandered by with his camera handy and snapped a photo of Marko and I with Carol, another youth worker blogging from the convention.
To make this whole situation funnier, when I did meet back up with Jenn on the show floor later she had stopped at some booth where they were custom carving those rubber bracelet things. I have a couple on my keychain for GeoCaching and other things, and she had thoughtfully had one made for me to add to my collection.
I feel like this post is getting long, so I'm going to break it up... More next coming soon...
Thankfully I took notes to myself on and off throughout the day yesterday because it was too good of a day to not cover in detail.
Jenn's HerStory session went until noonish yesterday, and I was able to spend most of that time just relaxing and lying low at the convention... I walked around the show floor for a little bit, read more in detail about some of the sessions I was planning to attend, and did email and read blogs until about 11:30.
Around 11:45 I had an awesome opportunity to sit down and have lunch with Marko. I've said many times, here on the blog, and in person how much I appreciate Youth Specialties and the work they do to encourage, empower, and equip youth pastors to be more effective in their ministries. And even though I'm a volunteer youth leader in a small church in a small town and may never be a "heavy hitter" in the world of Youth Ministry... it is really cool to be able to come to the conventions and make connections with folks who do wield the big guns in our field...
I really tried to not have an agenda when Marko and we got together because I really just wanted to chat and hang out with him. I know he's been checking blogs on and off throughout the weekend, so if he pops over here hopefully he can confirm that I wasn't a blithering idiot... ( or if I was a blithering idiot, maybe he'll cut me a break since he's famous and probably has to deal with blithering idiots all the time ).
Anyhoo... Had a great lunch just talking and sharing and hanging out. Thanks dude!
Oh... Also as we were wrapping up, I snapped this shot of Marko across the table. I didn't put him up to this, I promise.
Also as we were breaking up Gavin wandered by with his camera handy and snapped a photo of Marko and I with Carol, another youth worker blogging from the convention.
To make this whole situation funnier, when I did meet back up with Jenn on the show floor later she had stopped at some booth where they were custom carving those rubber bracelet things. I have a couple on my keychain for GeoCaching and other things, and she had thoughtfully had one made for me to add to my collection.
I feel like this post is getting long, so I'm going to break it up... More next coming soon...
NYWC Atlanta - Day 2 - crashing
Today was a very very full day. I have so much to post about, and photos as well... but I'm too tired to put something coherent together tonight...
I have notes, I will attempt to post the day in review first thing in the morning.
Good night.
I have notes, I will attempt to post the day in review first thing in the morning.
Good night.
Friday, November 16, 2007
NYWC Atlanta - Day 2 - early
It is funny to me how a persons definition of the word "famous" differs so greatly based on the circles they tend to run in...
Let me back up... I slept so good last night. Being tired does that to you.
Hrm... Let me back up some more...
While we were in Ted's last night, just as we stepped in the door Jenn nudged me and said "Hey, that guy looks like Jeremy Bush, the drummer for David Crowder Band".
I looked up, and it was Gavin! ( I mentioned him last night ).
I wasn't stalking you dude, really...
Also in the spirit of shamelessly plugging my new friend you can read Gavin's initial post about NYWC here, and follow his Flickr stream of the conference here.
Also, as promised, here is the photo he snapped last night compliments of his Flickr feed.
Anyhoo... where was I...
Oh yeah... I slept really good last night. Jenn's HerStory conference resumed at 8 this morning, so we set our alarm for extra early. I'm sure that by the end of the night tonight, I will be wishing that six hours of sleep had been 10, but what can you do...
We bundled up better today than yesterday, and even though it was crisp outside the wind wasn't blowing so I didn't get cold at all on the walk over. We went back to the amazing wraps joint in the CNN foodcourt for breakfast, which we paired with Starbucks coffee. It was excellent.
Jenn made it back to her session and I returned to the range of LiveWorship's wifi to blog, check email, and chill out. Which brings me back to how this post got started.... In case you forgot, let me remind you...
"It is funny to me how a persons definition of the word "famous" differs so greatly based on the circles they tend to run in..."
I'm sitting here, in kind of an out-of-the-way area next to the main walkway in building B of the Georia World Congress Center... Just a minute ago Duffy Robbins walked by going one way, and then back the other way toting a suitcase ( I'm guessing his materials for his morning session ). Tic Long just walked by, in conversation with someone... and, although I haven't seen him yet this morning, I suspect that Marko is also wandering around here somewhere... Oh! and I just spotted Jarred Hall on his way to the show floor...
Although most of my family, the vast majority of my co-workers, and even many of church friends wouldn't have a clue who these guys are... They are big names. Celebrities, if you will, in this field of Youth Ministry. How cool is it that we get an opportunity to be here and hang out with these guys, learn from them, hear what they have to say, and maybe even pick their brains.
Very cool indeed.
Not sure what the plan for the remainder of the day is... Several sessions I'm planning to hit, Jenn is wrapping up the HerStory conference ( which she says is awesome ). I also forsee more coffee in my immediate future.
Let me back up... I slept so good last night. Being tired does that to you.
Hrm... Let me back up some more...
While we were in Ted's last night, just as we stepped in the door Jenn nudged me and said "Hey, that guy looks like Jeremy Bush, the drummer for David Crowder Band".
I looked up, and it was Gavin! ( I mentioned him last night ).
I wasn't stalking you dude, really...
Also in the spirit of shamelessly plugging my new friend you can read Gavin's initial post about NYWC here, and follow his Flickr stream of the conference here.
Also, as promised, here is the photo he snapped last night compliments of his Flickr feed.
Anyhoo... where was I...
Oh yeah... I slept really good last night. Jenn's HerStory conference resumed at 8 this morning, so we set our alarm for extra early. I'm sure that by the end of the night tonight, I will be wishing that six hours of sleep had been 10, but what can you do...
We bundled up better today than yesterday, and even though it was crisp outside the wind wasn't blowing so I didn't get cold at all on the walk over. We went back to the amazing wraps joint in the CNN foodcourt for breakfast, which we paired with Starbucks coffee. It was excellent.
Jenn made it back to her session and I returned to the range of LiveWorship's wifi to blog, check email, and chill out. Which brings me back to how this post got started.... In case you forgot, let me remind you...
"It is funny to me how a persons definition of the word "famous" differs so greatly based on the circles they tend to run in..."
I'm sitting here, in kind of an out-of-the-way area next to the main walkway in building B of the Georia World Congress Center... Just a minute ago Duffy Robbins walked by going one way, and then back the other way toting a suitcase ( I'm guessing his materials for his morning session ). Tic Long just walked by, in conversation with someone... and, although I haven't seen him yet this morning, I suspect that Marko is also wandering around here somewhere... Oh! and I just spotted Jarred Hall on his way to the show floor...
Although most of my family, the vast majority of my co-workers, and even many of church friends wouldn't have a clue who these guys are... They are big names. Celebrities, if you will, in this field of Youth Ministry. How cool is it that we get an opportunity to be here and hang out with these guys, learn from them, hear what they have to say, and maybe even pick their brains.
Very cool indeed.
Not sure what the plan for the remainder of the day is... Several sessions I'm planning to hit, Jenn is wrapping up the HerStory conference ( which she says is awesome ). I also forsee more coffee in my immediate future.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
NYWC Atlanta - Day 1 - wrap up
Ok... For those of you who were not aware of my general level of nerd-ness, I'm about to fill you in.
Marko ( remember him ) keeps a list of people who are blogging from the NYWC.
At the urging of a few folks on said list, he was kind enough to also list the links for those of us who are tweeting from the conference. ( If you aren't familiar with Twitter, look here first, then here, and then go get an account here ).
IF you are already familiar with Twitter skip ahead some....
The act of posting to twitter is referred to as "tweeting".
Well, for me part of the fun of having Twitter is following other people who are doing the same sort of thing that I am doing... I update my twitter and "follow" the people I'm following all from my iPhone using SMS messages. So basically when I want to update mine, I send a text that says something like "is eating pizza". And then everyone who is following me gets a text message that says "Eli is eating pizza".
Likewise, anytime someone who I am following updates their twitter from their phone I get a text message telling me what they are doing...
You can also view my twitter updates online here.
SKIP TO HERE! ( for the folks who skipped ahead... if you've been reading this whole time, just keep going )
Anyway... In addition to blogging from the convention, and updating my twitter I'm also following several other folks who are twittering as well. Some of the guys I'm following are also following me, some are probably not...
As I was wrapping up my last blog, and the battery on my laptop was dying a guy happened to walk up near where I was sitting and said "Hey, here's someone blogging from the convention." A quick name-tag glance later and he realized that it was me, who he was following on twitter.
And that is how I met Gavin, who is blogging here and twittering here.
Neat huh!
Gavin, having the presence of mind to have a camera with him, took a photo of the two us of standing with our backs to the exhibit hall, which I hope he will pass on to me so I can share it with all of you thus completing this geek moment.
This update on geeks at the NYWC brought to you by Twitter.
To wind up the rest of the evening.... I met up with Jenn when the HerStory conference was done for the day, bumped into Marty's fam for a couple of minutes, said "Good Night" to the whole gang and slipped off to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill, which was excellent.
We split the jumbo shrimp appetizer, which was amazing, and then had some bison chili and shared a burger, which was pretty good. The sweet tea was an A+.
Now, we're back at the hotel. Jenn and I are both tired and stiff from doing all the walking which neither one of us are accustomed to. We're both slinging blog updates now, and will be crashing shortly. Tomorrow will be here very very soon.
Marko ( remember him ) keeps a list of people who are blogging from the NYWC.
At the urging of a few folks on said list, he was kind enough to also list the links for those of us who are tweeting from the conference. ( If you aren't familiar with Twitter, look here first, then here, and then go get an account here ).
IF you are already familiar with Twitter skip ahead some....
The act of posting to twitter is referred to as "tweeting".
Well, for me part of the fun of having Twitter is following other people who are doing the same sort of thing that I am doing... I update my twitter and "follow" the people I'm following all from my iPhone using SMS messages. So basically when I want to update mine, I send a text that says something like "is eating pizza". And then everyone who is following me gets a text message that says "Eli is eating pizza".
Likewise, anytime someone who I am following updates their twitter from their phone I get a text message telling me what they are doing...
You can also view my twitter updates online here.
SKIP TO HERE! ( for the folks who skipped ahead... if you've been reading this whole time, just keep going )
Anyway... In addition to blogging from the convention, and updating my twitter I'm also following several other folks who are twittering as well. Some of the guys I'm following are also following me, some are probably not...
As I was wrapping up my last blog, and the battery on my laptop was dying a guy happened to walk up near where I was sitting and said "Hey, here's someone blogging from the convention." A quick name-tag glance later and he realized that it was me, who he was following on twitter.
And that is how I met Gavin, who is blogging here and twittering here.
Neat huh!
Gavin, having the presence of mind to have a camera with him, took a photo of the two us of standing with our backs to the exhibit hall, which I hope he will pass on to me so I can share it with all of you thus completing this geek moment.
This update on geeks at the NYWC brought to you by Twitter.
To wind up the rest of the evening.... I met up with Jenn when the HerStory conference was done for the day, bumped into Marty's fam for a couple of minutes, said "Good Night" to the whole gang and slipped off to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill, which was excellent.
We split the jumbo shrimp appetizer, which was amazing, and then had some bison chili and shared a burger, which was pretty good. The sweet tea was an A+.
Now, we're back at the hotel. Jenn and I are both tired and stiff from doing all the walking which neither one of us are accustomed to. We're both slinging blog updates now, and will be crashing shortly. Tomorrow will be here very very soon.
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