Well the conference is over. After everything is said and done I would say that it was a major success. We heard good reports all around (of course not without a few negative remarks) and the “vibe of the place felt great” (quote from PAOC’s George Werner). There are a bunch of pictures here. A few highlights.
1. Finding out that Brian McLaren wasn’t has his hotel. Just a small bit of stress. We found him later at another hotel, the original one that we planned for him. Bad communication on our part.
2. Donald Miller showing up 15 minutes before he was supposed to be on.
3. The constant flow of people who were supposed to be in overflow but for some reason thought that session after session they were exempt.
4. The one lady who refused to move when we told her she was in overflow, four different times.
5. Getting to hang out at Richview Baptist for a few hours after with McLaren and thirty or forty others.
6. Chris getting told by someone that they were fingered. (yes, you read that right, apparently it means being pointed at or something, but either way it makes it on the list)
7. Meeting so many people that I hadn’t met before including Darryl Dash, Paul Martin, four people who are also involved in trying to plant a church in Sarnia, Chris Seay and Brian Walsh. It was also good to see Tom Morris in from Calgary.
8. Seeing the president of Tyndale whisper to the guy next to him during Brian McLaren’s main session and say “that was brilliant.”
9. Seeing the registration process send people in a 75 foot line-up and not having a clue how to speed up the process.
10. My dad enjoying overflow better than the main session area, that people seemed to be ready to lose their Christianity for, because ‘he doesn’t like crowds.’
It really went so well. The main session speakers, Brian McLaren, Chris Seay and Donald Miller did better than we had hoped and all our workshop leaders (Pernell Goodyear, Jared Siebert, Beth Veale, George Sweetman, Braden Douglas, Brian Walsh and Domenic Ruso) got such good reports. We were overwhelmed by everything. Keep an eye on the site now for media updates (they did a large number of radio and tv interviews there with our speakers and we will try to get them and post them, and we will also post up any reviews or anything helpful about it, there are a few up already). I’m glad for the break though, guess we’ll see how long it lasts.
Can’t believe you guys pulled the whole thing together. Well done. Amazing day, and it was great to meet you.
Nathan, such a great day. Lauren and I were so glad to be a part of it and have been talking about all we heard and experienced non-stop. You guys did a fantastic job putting it all together. I am currently trying to put all my notes from the conference on my blog to get my thoughts straight and keep the conversation going. I’ll be thinking and trying to digest it all for a while, I am sure.
Ian
I thought the conference was fantastic and was very proud of you and your friends for accomplishing all you did. That was a huge project. I loved Donald Miller. I loved hanging out with Rachel for the day too. Love ya!
I wasnt a fan. It was lacking in strategy to save more souls. No three steps.
Hmmmm yah right.
To all the volunteers; thanks for the day. Nathan thanks for the consideration to get me a volunteer T-shit (even though N. Shurr assisted me in snagging one).
I was also a HUGE fan of traveling to that small setting to have question and answer with McLaren after the conference. Good topics.
I think the most remarkable thing that stood out in my mind was the range of age that attended. Stunning. I was expecting to find only 20 somethings but came to see that it was a healthy mix of all ages.
Enjoy a couple days to yourself pal (even though you have an exam this week) you deserve it.
Cheers.
Nathan – again, you guys did an amazing job. Seriously. If I had half the brains, energy, insight and maturity when I was your age, I wouldn’t be such a loser now…
And by the way Ron, where can I get one of those t-shits? I have always wanted a volunteer t-shit.
:)