 Tools & Trainings E-Newsletter Issue 38 March 9, 2009
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 Why The Gathering in Globe?
For several years now we have hosted an organic church movements
conference in the So CA area. They've been good, but something has
always bothered me about them. They tend to draw people we are not
aiming for and do not draw the people we were intending.
The
conference was meant to be a gathering of our folks, those who are
practitioners on the field doing organic church. Our Greenhouse and
frontline disciplemaking are meant to be the front door to the
movement, not the annual conference. The conference was meant to be a
time of connecting people from all over that are at work in the fields
to learn from one another and encourage each other in the difficult
work we have all been thrust into.
Last year, we held a meeting
to relentlessly scrutinize our conference and other stuff we do. This
is our habit, nothing is sacred and everything can be improved upon. We
asked ourselves if we are missing what God wants in our conference.
Perhaps we need to do a big front door conference to introduce people
to the missional movement. The other possibility is that our medium
isn't connecting with our message. We decided to launch a big missional
church conference in late January or early February and just surrender
to the direction our conferences have been going. However our planning
hit a snag and the conference was canceled, just as the Verge
Conference was announced in Austin, which turned out to be all we hoped
for and more. We also realized that we do not have the muscles to pull
off such an event and that some of our friends and associates still
working in "mega-church-world" have a better chance of doing that.
So
with Verge and the H2H Labor Day conference well in place, what are we
to do with our annual conference. We realized that God wanted us to go
back to our original intention, and to bring the medium closer to our
message. That is why we are doing a more outdoor Woodstock-esque
conference. Matching our own culture the Globe Gathering will be family
based, relational, grassroots and for our own organic church people
that are in the fields.
We will learn around campfires, on hikes
and staying together in tent-city. Rather than a big conference in a
classy hotel with big named speakers, name badges and workshops, it
will be burning man with clothes on and a more obvious spiritual
center, message and focus. This will be less agenda driven and more
experiential and relational. More like a Rainbow Gathering of
like-minded people who share a passion and a calling, it will be a call
to people to come from all over the world on a spiritual pilgrimage. It
will be Woodstock without the excess. It will be organic, movements,
and a journey. You will leave with more and better friends rather than
a notebook full of pages you will never look at again.
Well,
this is what we are hoping for. We are doing something that costs less
and can pay off in far greater ways. We are taking a risk. We don't
know if this will work or not, but we have never been risk-averse, so
why not try?
- Neil Cole
Check out the website
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Upcoming Trainings- Organic Greenhouse
 Austin, TX // Story 1
@ Austin Stone Community Church
March 26-27
Limited seating
Online Registration Ends Feb 14
Finland // Story 1 Experiential
March 19-21 in Lahti
March 22-25 HelsinkiMarch 26-28 Tampere Nokia
Orlando, FL // Story 1
@ Northland Church
June 11-13
Early Bird Registration open now
Click HERE for more Details and to Register
Trainings in the planning stages:
Long Beach, CA // Story 1
Twin Cities, Minnesota // Story 1
Detroit, MI // Story 1
Canada, Kenya, Germany, Norway
CMA Conference 2010
We'll be doing a "Gathering in Globe, AZ"
A woodstock-esque festival- retreat, reconnect, refresh
April 9-11, 2010
Globe, Arizona
Early Bird Registration ends March 14 |
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Featured Resources
 Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church
By Neil Cole
In this next-step book, he answers questions about how to deal with theological and organizational issues that come up. He talks about issues such has what to do with finances, children, heresy, leader training, and rituals and ordinances.
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Featured Article
What's in a Name?:
How do we name our churches? From Our Jurisdiction to the King's Reign
by Neil Cole
"What's in a name? A rose is a rose by any other name." -William Shakespeare
My friend and mentor, Bob Logan has an unusual collection. He collects church names he has come across in his travels over the years. Here are some actual names of churches he has encountered in his journey (with some commentary from yours truly): - Accident Baptist Church is obviously not Calvinist.
- First Church of the Last Chance World on Fire Revival and Military Academy (in Dade City FL). These folks have the first and last word on just about any subject. I don't even want to ask what sort of military they are training.
- Greater Second Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN, stands in contrast, I guess, to the not so great second Baptist church around the corner?
- For those who do not want to commit all the way, you can go to the Halfway Baptist Church. On the other hand, Hell Hole Swamp Baptist Church in South Carolina is not a seeker sensitive church by any stretch of the imagination. You have to be really committed to attend this church; none of those "Halfway Baptists" will be found here. Of course everyone is welcome at Faith Free Lutheran. Like "sugar free" this is a church that contains no calories, convictions...or miracles.
- Little Hope Baptist Church sounds a tad better than another church called No Hope United Methodist Church. Kind of makes you sad just saying it.
- My personal favorite church name: Original Church of God, Number 2. I really can't think of anything to add that could possibly be funnier than the name itself...except for perhaps number 3.
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