Conference update - The Sticks

Just got back from the Sticks Conference for small/medium churches, in Loudonville, OH. 2 Days, 6 main sessions, and several breakout sessions (that involved some NewPointe Staff leading them!)

Yep this is a little long, but sticks with me (funny?). There’s always lots to process when you return from a conference like this, but here’s my take on 5 things I came away with from the Sticks (yes this reads like a blog, but I wanted this to encourage the staff, so I’m sending it here).

1. NewPointe is blessed to have an incredible heritage. Think about this, we are still denominationally connected, we didn’t press a reset button and start over as an independent church. Not knocking this path, but I am thankful for our path. Our current church is the result of a leadership transformation that is/has been completely missionally focused. This path was certainly harder. I wasn’t here for it, but I can only imagine! I’m thankful that we have a heritage of rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work. To me, it’s in the pain and hard work where our character is formed.
2. At the conference, Dwight was one of the 6 main session speakers. Only 2 of the speakers did not specifically mention how many people attend their church (now, to be fair, one did mention it, in what I thought was not to make a comparison or establish credibility). Guess which camp Dwight was in? Lots was said at the conference about the danger of comparing ministry. But I am thankful that NewPointe at it’s core is interested in numbers for the sake of how numbers represent people who need Jesus, not benchmarks for locker room comparison with other churches. By the way, Dwight was in the good/humble camp! I’m thankful that we are led this way.
3. Something that I noticed is that the NewPointe team that attended this conference was interested in growing as Christ followers and learning as leaders. It’s always easy to be critical and laugh, to not be really interested in talking/networking, and to really not pay attention during main sessions. But something little that I noticed – we have a team (including those that didn’t attend the Sticks) that really knows that we’re not there yet. We are learning constantly, and those at the conference were taking notes, worshipping during the songs, and networking with people throughout breaks. I’m thankful that we serve and learn together in a culture that really admits – we’re not there yet.
4. I’m not sure what specific thing made me aware of this next point, maybe it was just an overarching observation as I talked to people and sat and watched – but the grass is NOT greener anywhere else. I know ministry can be frustrating/disappointing/overwhelming/flat out hard, but we are experiencing an incredible church community and staff opportunity that is truly outstanding. I am thankful for our ministry approach, our team, our freedoms, our budgets and for our overall opportunity that we experience as staff here every single day. And I am even more thankful for our mission that is interested in seeing people grow by serving, giving, and being in community.
5. And finally, it was said in the last main session, by the speaker mentioned in point number 2, that as leaders we teach what we know but we reproduce what we are. That’s pretty significant, huh? I am sincerely thankful and excited that as staff members here, our own personal growth is a priority, along with the health of our families, so that we can be positioned to sincerely and healthily lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by who we are, not just what we teach. This one is huge!