Exposed!

I’m attending a church planting conference on April 24-27 called Exposed, and I’m looking forward to it more than any other church planting conference I’ve been to. Here’s why:

First, they are limiting attendance to only 20-30. I’ve been to many church planting and church growth conferences over the years, and though it is exciting to be part of conferences with 100’s (or 1000’s) of people in attendance, I always feel a bit…lost. In big conferences, to those who are teaching, I’m just another face in a huge crowd. To those who are attending, I’m just some other guy who they will never meet again. But at Exposed, I imagine I will get to know the speakers and the others in attendance in a way not possible at other conferences. Who knows? Maybe I will even develop some friendships with other church planters, and we can partner with each other in the future.

Second, the conference is being hosted by Square 1 Church Planting, which was founded by two guys (Joe Centrino and Stephen Hammond) who have actually planted churches and are still pastoring churches. Not only that, they haven’t written books (yet), or been invited to the White House, or raised $4 million in four weeks, or seen their church go from 50 to 5000 in 5 years. While some of this may happen to them in the future (it could!) right now, it’s just two guys in the midst of church planting who want to help others plant too. Sometimes, I think the “big name” church planting gurus have forgotten (or never experienced in the first place) some of the sweat and blood struggles of planting a church. But Joe and Stephen have been through it all.

Third, Square 1 is about planting Missional Churches. Missional churches want to do more than just have big buildings and Bible studies, but instead want to embrace culture so it can be redeemed and transformed by the love of Jesus. Missional churches are churches that are on a mission to see the Gospel actually change lives. If all we do is talk, read, learn, and write about the Gospel, I don’t think we really understand it. Missional churches are trying to live the Gospel.

Finally, rather than just sit around and listen to speakers speak, we are actually going to go out and have some fun together! On Friday, our wives get to go shopping together, while we guys enjoy some male bonding. That night, all of us are going to attend a Texas Ranger Baseball game. Try doing that at Exponential!

Space is really limited for this conference, so if you want to go, contact me for a brochure, or contact Joe and Stephen at Square 1.