Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A conference fully worth the time . . .


I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week at a conference at White Oak Conference Center and I can say that it was fully worth the time spent there. Now, I have been to conferences in the past and generally always came away with some little tid-bit that I could use in some way. This conference was different!! I came away with several pages of notes in my journal and excitement in my heart. You may ask what breeds this excitement. I finally see a working model of a way to do discipleship that I have been talking about for years.

We had the opportunity to hear Jim Putman and several of his staff talk about a discipleship method (notice I did not say program) that produces disciples that re-produce themselves. It is done in small groups of people and is based in relationships that are built. It is the most biblical model that I have ever seen.

I also was able to see a method of teaching that is probably the most effective way of teaching that I have seen in a long time and it revolves around telling stories. Avery Willis brought this part of the conference. Something that was pointed out and I have recognized for a long time is that people will remember a story and repeat it far more often that they will remember teaching in its other forms. It hit home in a mighty way when one of the speakers asked us to tell him the second point of his talk that he had given just one hour before and we could not, but we could all repeat the story that he led into that point with.

The main excitement that I carry within me right now is because this is the skeleton that we have been trying to put meat on since we started The Journey. I have so much information that I need to process now into a form that we can use in what we seek to join the Lord doing here in Greenville and there is a definite direction to move in now.

Keep watch in the future for updates and information as I get it processed, until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and I do truly love to tell the story.

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