Saturday
Jun192004
The $80 million conference
Saturday, June 19, 2004 at 9:01AM
From The Heresy:
At Bethany a poster went up advertisting the Leadership Summit 2004 Conference...I'm guessing they are going to pull in about 80 million USD for that conference. I'm not going to launch in to some self-righteous tirade about how that money could be spent on some other cause, but it does say something about church leadership today. Where your treasure is, that is where your heart is... I can't say WCA or Promise Keeper conferences are devoid of substance but what draws people back is the experience, the rally... I imagine that you could probably learn as much from reading a few books and passing them around. So what do you think motivates people to go?Read the whole post and comment there. I don't think the conference is wrong in itself, but I do wonder why I in the past have gone to conferences thinking I would find the answer there.
Reader Comments (8)
I say if Willow can pull in $80,000,000, then more power to them (then I think that number may be a little hyperbolic). Obviously, enough people think it's worthwhile that they're willing to spend the money, and Willow is willing to take it. And so would you or I. No one creates and disperses wealth like the Americans. I know... I are one. I've budgeted $5000 to take a small group to Chicago this fall for the Small Group Conference. We go every other year with out leaders to 1) show them a church that does it right, and 2) to get them thinking transferably; what can we adapt to our setting. We have 18 small groups that are still being fueled by what the leader learned in 2002. Out of a $700,000 budget, $5,000 isn't too much to spend, at least in my opinion. Not when we spend $10,000 on coffee and kitchen supplies.
I think the point of the rally or the conference is largely in the "coming together." Think about it in terms of church, in general. Sure, we could all just read The Book and talk about it every now and then, but there is something special about gathering that goes beyond what we find in reading the book by ourselves.
I am a contrarian in this regard. I see it as God's money and taking a bunch of people on a road trip for an experience just seems to be a bad idea.
Brian 3 things: 1) Just because Willowcreek can do something doesn't mean it should, 2) Just because huge numbers of people think something's worthwhile doesn't mean it is, 3) Just because Willowcreek or you or I would take money or could make and disperse money doesn't mean it's right to do.
Hey Darryl, thank you for the mention of the book - reimagining spiritual formation. I hope you enjoyed it.
You and other ministers are heavily targeted by marketing experts. The hooks are simple. You need this 'fellowship.' You can network with the 'successful haves'. Your 'self-improvement' can be taken back to your church so you can 'improve' others.' It is pitched right at the deepest longings we all have, with nice twists for a pastors heart.
Trish: 1) If Willow can do something that's good for the Kingdom, then by all means they should. 2) We all tend to "vote with our pocketbook" for what is worthwhile for us. Hold a conference for Supralapsarian Cessasionists and see how successful THAT is. 3) It's not up to you or I or anyone to tell anyone else how to spend their money, or to impugn their motives for doing so. Darryl... sorry for hogging your post. I should have done this over on the originating blog.
I usually get two things out of this conference (which I attend every year). One is a refocusing/"getting back to basics" emphasis. This nudges me to look at the foundational reasons why I am doing things. The second is to connect with others. I am one of the scarcest MBTI types, and ther just aren't that many of us nearby. The geographic scale of my fellowship is a large area. If you are one of the more common types (SJ), then you can connect locally, but for the rare birds, this is where we can stretch our wings, and roost for a weekend. (This year I will miss most of it, but I get to drive my new set of wheels past it a few times.) By the way, the conference times are listed in standard time. In August, most of US/Canada are on daylight (except for Saskatchewan, Arizona, Hawaii and part of Indiana). This looks like a typo?