Last week was a cRaZy busy week as Amy and I headed to Louisville, KY and Sojourn Church for Acts 29's Ambition Boot Camp. Boot Camps are exhausting: there is travel, nightly events, early mornings (8:30 am meetings), afternoon activities, dinners, hang out (late night) and back at it early in the morning, followed by Thursday assessments of potential church planters, then return travel! It is honestly non-stop. Add to that maddening pace the incredible amount of teaching that pours out of one amazing leader after another and - well - it can take days to recover - but who has days to recover?!?!?
So, while it was fresh on the mind, I thought I would share some of the highlights for me from last week, in no particular order...
# Boot Camps and other A-29 events provide me with the opportunity to connect with other planters in the network - much needed.
# The teaching line up at these events is INCREDIBLE - Ed Stetzer, Darrin Patrick, Steve Timmis, Russ Moore, Matt Chandler, Kevin Cawley, Dave Harvey, and Bob Thune all rocked the main sessions.
# Boot Camps are getting better and better at addressing a wide range of issues and need through breakout sessions - Ambition was the best I have attended.
# Sojourn and A29 did a great job of taking care of the A 29 guys there to help with the Boot Camp and assessments - great meals together, great hang out time that included a couple of awesome Louisville pubs and some cigars (love the smell of a cigar though I do not smoke them)
# Wives are encouraged to help in the assessments - that means Amy makes the trip with me - nice.
# Daniel Montgomery invited me to help by teaching one of the breakout sessions - Vision and Values - Great Church or Great City? It gave me the opportunity to share with people from all over the country the cool stuff going on in New City and in our city
# Kevin Cawley's talk was the best session I have had the honor of being in (and I have been in some good ones). Kevin is planting in KC, Mo - but what he talked about described what New City is doing. Really Good! I got to follow his talk with a brief testimony about New City - cool.
# Josh and Meghan Maloy made the trip as well as Patrick and Jennifer McConnell - hang out time with them was really good. Josh and Meghan made their first A-29 event and walked away with a renewed heart for our mission and vision.
# Meeting men from all over the country who have a passion and drive to reach people with the gospel by starting new churches - exciting.
Audio should be up in a week or so as well as video interviews with numerous planters and worship leaders.
A great week! Now to catch up here...
