buzzin' bout da buzz

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to go and hang with some of the greatest church leaders in the nation. Most of them you wouldn't know their names if I dropped them, anyways I hate dropping names. What made these guys great is they are out on the edge...pushing back from the norm...their envelopes are stretched, and they don't even know the box exists!

I would say 90% of the leaders gathered are leading church plants or are a part of a church that is less than 10 years old. You get guys like that together and the environment just gets charged. Before I say why this event was different than other conferences let me first say why it was similar.

Like most church leadership conferences it re-hashed the stuff that the majority of participants have been immeresed in for months. Why? It's not because the leadership didn't come with it's "A" game, because I think Mark and his team brought it. Ed Young (love the guy huge) covered amazing stuff that most of us have heard already from him or have read in my new favorite book "Creative Leadership" written by none another than the Edster himself. I wouldn't have changed that session one bit. The majority of the leaders present are students of all things current regarding church planting, sermon branding, media in ministry, and etc.....

With that said it doesn't mean that all of us have a handle on everything there is to know, but the philosophy and basics of doing ministry in today's market we can't afford to not be on top of it. So how was the Buzz conference different than most church leadership conferences?

To sum it up in one word I would say "desperation." You go to most conferences and the participants are relatively aloof and stick to their own agendas. Not at the Buzz. It seemed like people were networking everywhere with everyone. There was a sense of immediacy as people uncousiously realized time was ticking away and each of us wanted to gleen as much info, mutual encouragement, and ideas from each other before we all had to go back to our ministries.

The greatest part of the whole two days took place between sessions, at dinner tables, in hotel lobbies, and walking freakin 6 miles around D.C. (that was just our gang)

It was awesome hearing everyone tell their stories. With some of the stories you were encouraged with where you and your church are at, and with others it pushed you to press on.


For me I'm just at the beginning of this church planting endeavor. We launched 4 months ago and things are going great, but I kind of came to the event with the whole "what do I have to offer mindset" There is a proverb that says..."a man putting on his armour shouldn't boast like the man taking off his armour."

At times that makes me just get a little quiet at events like Buzz, but you know being with everyone I began to realize that what God is doing through the emc team is above and beyond the average church plant and I have a ton to be thankful for. I guess I just didn't realize how well things are going comparitivley speaking...I hate comperatively speaking anyways. All I know is I am so excited about what God is doing at the embassy and I feel dang blessed to be a part of it.


I want to give a shout out to some of the great guys I got to hang with during Buzz

Gary Lamb (props for fittin' my hotel bill) you're crazy, but I love ya
Tadd Grandstaff (one of the wisest young cats I've ever met) you're going to rock!
Tony McCollum (Salt of the earth, real, no wonder you're the cat's meow in Buford)
Greg Rholinger from Palm Valley Church (thanks for Dinner at Boca de Bepo's) this guy is a powerhouse having launched a few years ago and doing amazing things!
Mark Rodriquez and Bob "the guru" Franquiz from Calvary Community Church (genuine)
Roger Blackmore (most relevant 55 year old I have ever met) could hang all the time with him.
Travis Johnson (great guy getting it done)