The Exchange on September 7 - we are looking to gather a group to be a apart. Will there be a "break" for lunch or will it be a "working lunch"? We can certainly have lunch available if that is the case.

Larry,
That is terrific.
Yes, there will be a lunch "break" from 11:30-12:30 (CST). Folks who are gathering together off-site are using it in a variety of ways that suits their groups. I will go ahead and post a schedule in my next comment.

Lizette Beard
Project Manager
LifeWay Research

Transformational Small Churches
The Exchange, Sept 7
Schedule (All times CST)

10:00-10:30 am
Welcome, Overview

10:30-11:30 am
Vibrant Leadership
Relational Intentionality
Prayerful Dependence

11:30-12:30 pm
Lunch

12:30-1:30 pm
Small Church Pastor Panel

1:30-2:30 pm
Worship
Community
Mission

2:30-3:30 pm
Missionary Mentality

3:30-4:00 pm
Wrap-up

My congregation has only been in existence for 3.5 years. We've come to really value the benefits of being small. We're looking for insight about how to reproduce so that we can grow and yet maintain the healthy small church dynamics we are currently enjoying.

I am so pumped about this opportunity. After having served in and been a part of a small church most of my life, I am excited to see an opportunity to interact with others on topics that are relevant to the small church situation. Thank you for providing this opportunity to those of us in churches with a small congregation but a mega heart and desire to reach the nations for Christ. I look forward to the learning from the wisdom of Stetzer, Rainer, and other pastors.

Ed,

When you say "small churches" - what sizes are you thinking of? There is a big difference between a church of 75 and a church of 275.

This sounds great! We'll be there Ed.

Do you need a registration for use of the webcast? We're looking to be a host site for this area & extend the reach.

Mike, no, you don't need a code or register to be a host site. But do take a picture and send it in on the 7th.

Lizette

My question is a variation of the rural/city church discussion.

I am helping a church plant in a medium size city, and have been counseled (which I am vetting) to stay in a city church because money and time should be spent on the churches in the cities. This puts me in a tension that is somewhat frustrating. I miss the "rural" life and see a need for the gospel, so the question.

should I travel back into the city (30 miles) to go be a part of the community or should I attend a rural church or help start one?

Peace

Online would be awesome! It will be mean I can participate from the UK! A topic I'd love to see you guys tackle is about leading an established church to be more mission focused. What steps would a leading pastor take to raise the missional temperature of the church?

I am looking to host at our associational office. What resources do you suggest we have available for our pastors on that day and is there still time to get them from LifeWay in time?

BTW and for confirmation, 10 AM your time IS 9 AM EDT, correct?

Dougald,
That is terrific. So glad you are planning on gathering together to watch.

Time: 9 EST/10 CST

Resources: What a lot of groups are doing is keeping it simple and providing a box lunch and making the books available. (Either having them on site to purchase or providing them for those who participate).

You do have time to order them. You can call your closest LifeWay Retail Store or go online. They are currently 25% off, so that is a great deal.

Thanks!

OK--let me ask the question for clarification--is there a separate bok for "Transformational Small Church" or is this the topic area and we are using "Transformational Church" as the book? Are there other resources you might suggest to have available that day as well?

I would also recommend the books Comeback Churches (Stetzer/Dodson) and Simple Church (Rainer/Geiger).

With this topic, I would definitely consider laying out a follow-up plan. The strength of a conference is the saturation of information. The weakness is the quick evaporation of the same. So maybe it would be good to go into the day with a clear understanding that the webcast is only the beginning.

There are several good follow-up strategies, but often times, no plan = no progress.

I'm hoping our simulcast will be the first of several sessions among churches locally, with small church pastors encouraging one another on an on-going basis. For supplemental reading on missions, I was heavily influenced by Bob Sjogren's "The Story of the Bible" & "Cat and Dog Theology", and David Garrison's "Church Planting Movements". (If they or you can spare 15 weeks, do the Perspectives.org training - transformed my thinking.)

I am a pastor of a small church and also bi-vocational. I cannot take off on the Tuesday that the conference is going to be held. I am currently reading Simple Church (Rainer/Geiger) and really want to take advantage of this opportunity. Will there be a DVD of the conference for purchase later?

PK,
We will be archiving the videos here on Ed's blog.

Thank you for your interest!
Lizette

The Baptist State Convention of NC is hosting two sites for NC Baptist pastors to participate. Those attending will receive a free lunch, a free copy of Transformational Church, and there will be drawings for DVD products and even some assessments! Go to the following link to register, http://www.ncbaptist.org/index.php?id=cs

The Journey 2825 s Airport Rd Traverse City, MI is hosting the conference.

Is there any technology issues I should be concerned about and can I do a pre-conference experiment to make sure everthing works?

Chris,

We are glad to have you all joining us on the 7th!

There shouldn't be any special issues related to being able to show the feed. Our media people will begin broadcasting 30 minutes before the webcast begins on the 7th at 9:30am CST (webcast starts at 10am CST). So, that should give you time to get everything up and running.

A couple of things you might want to consider doing before then is to test how your system does broadcasting a live feed from another source (news networks often have a live news feed link on their site).

Again, we are really excited to have you joining us.

Dougald,
10 AM CDT is 11 AM EDT, not 9.
Paul

There were 7 of us in Newport News, Virginia, but others will watch the replays. Excellent conference. Thanks for being so free with the information. A quality event!

The session was very helpful. We had five of us from the Traverse City Area LDJ in attendance.

A question: There were some strong parallels with the Natural Church Development system that I have used in the past. How does the Transformational Church system differ from and/or augment NCD?