Dave Travis Now

I am going to the Velocity Conference–Why not meet me there?

 

Every year I try to head up to Cumming, GA, north of Atlanta to go to the Churchplanters.com annual conference. I am not a church planter. I am not even a pastor. But I love the vibe, the crowd and the energy of this conference. This year the theme is “Velocity.”

I was able to snag Shawn Lovejoy, pastor of Mountain Lake and co-founder of Church Planters.com for a few minutes. (The conference is February 21-22 this year. About 800 folks)

DT: Shawn, what is new first at Mountain Lake Church?

Well, first of all, I think I’m new. I turn forty this next month, and I feel like God has been doing a whole new work in me! I feel like I am just getting a clue as to what it means to be a man of God, Pastor, husband, and father. What was I thinking starting this church at 28 years old?! A lot is also going on ministry-wise. We’ve planted five churches in the last three years and will help start two more this year. God continues to grow the crowd here in our “Jerusalem” and change tons of lives. We’ve seen over 250 people go public with their faith through baptism this last year, and we’re running out of space again! These aren’t problems. They’re challenging, though.  

DT: The Churchplanter.com conference this year is "Velocity", what's that all about?

So many church planters feel stuck. So many are disillusioned and discouraged with the the way things are going in their churches. At the least, they’re overwhelmed and often bogged down by the complexities that we face as Pastors and ministry leaders. “Velocity” is about gaining the momentum we need to move forward, break through, and  and seize God’s vision for our lives and for our churches. 

DT: What is new this year at the conference?
This year, we’ve allowed even MORE church leadership voices to take the main stage and speak into the lives of pastors and ministry leaders. Many of our main session will have several speakers speak into the issue at hand. I’m especially excited to have Pete Wilson from Cross Point Church in Nashville, and Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands speaking in our main sessions for the first time. I respect those guys so much. 

DT: There is usually a full house, what kinds of people come to be a part of the conversation?

We’ve always had such a diversity of speakers  at our conference, and people have come from all over the country. Last year, twenty-eight states were represented. This year, I think we have greater diversity, even in terms of church philosophy and ecclesiology, than we’ve ever had before. You can’t get more diversified than Scott Williams from Life Church, Darrin Patrick from The Journey, in St. Louis, and Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands! That’s diversity in every way! The pre-conference lineup is not only stellar, but also very diversified with everything from “The Sticks” to “Sticky Church” to “The Nuts and Bolts of Systems” to “How The Church Advances” by JD Greear, Tyler Jones and some of the Acts 29 crew. This kind of diversity challenges the pastors in ways many conferences usually don’t. This is not your cookie-cutter conference with the same people all saying the same things. That’s very intentional.  

DT: I always enjoy the workshops as much as the worship and big venue stuff, what kinds of topics will be addressed this year?
We have more pre-conferences and breakouts than ever before this year. I LOVE the brass-tax, practical nature of our break-outs. They are NOT just someone preaching another message. They actually help people!  We pay attention to that stuff.  Our Worship Team will lead one on facilitating creative worship experiences on a shoe-string budget; and Amy Leigh Bamberg from Church of the Highlands will lead one on building a “Dream Team” culture of volunteer-ism; my wife will be leading one for Pastor’s spouses;  and Justin and Trisha Davis from Life Point Church, in Nashville, will lead one on staying sane and staying married while pastoring! Now that’s practical.
DT: What should a leader expect from this experience?

At churchplanters.com, we’ve always talked about “giving people permission.” That’s why we do what we do. The goal of this conference is to come alongside Pastors and ministry leaders and encourage them to the point they feel the permission to pursue the dream and vision God has placed on their hearts! This happens, not just in the main session and the breakouts, but in the worship times led by our Worship Team, and through dozens of hallway conversations. One of my favorite things to do is walk around in the lobby and meet Pastors and their teams; and encourage them as much as possible! Our other speakers at the conference are also encouraged to get out of the Green Rooms, walk the hallways, and rub shoulders with church planters and their teams, and speak into their lives and ministries! We’re still the up-close-and-personal church planting conference. We actually hope to form closer relationships with many of these teams through our ongoing coaching networks.  Pastors simply need more than a once a year pep rally to break through the barriers that are holding them back! 

 

DT: OK, to get signed up, here is the link - http://www.churchplanters.com/conference

Look for me with a video crew on Monday.

Big Giving in 2010?

It looks like that from Fidelity’s point of view. From this story (http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2011/01/2010_was_a_big.html)

We can see that grants from Fidelity Charitable Gift accounts rose sharply in the past year. Even more importantly, transfers of assets to those accounts were up 42% over 2009.

What are these types of accounts? These are holding accounts established by donors to help them give regular grants to not for profits (including churches). For those familiar with National Christian Foundation, (on the web at www.nationalchristian.com), it is a similar type of account. And more folks have them than you realize.

Now admittedly these vehicles are more attractive and are used more by better than average income and wealth donors in the U.S. But the fact that both grants and gifts to these accounts grew dramatically last year indicate several things to me.

1. There’s more money out there than you realize. While I fully understand and appreciate that many in our country are unemployed and underemployed, many more are still working.
2. A second related factor, with the great “reset” or “new normal”, we have seen a rise in the savings rate as people as those not in financial distress (again the majority) have paid down debt and reduced their lifestyles leaving healthier cash balances than many expected.  And many will give you some of that if you ask. But you have to ask.
3. As seen by the initial grant number, some charities are asking and receiving gifts from these individuals.

Now I have seen some other reports from the foundation world that would lead some to be pessimistic but I know of many more than have seen abundance this year. It must be remembered that the Foundation world lags many times due to policies they have in which they earn interest and dividends one year and pay it out the next. As a rough proxy, the Dow Jones average was up 11% last year, though most foundations are more conservatively invested.

Yes, ministry funding is tougher to come by than several boom years ago. Yes, you need to make a strong case. Yes, you have to make personal asks.

But it’s out there. Go disciple those with the grace and joy of giving and lead others to experience that joy.

Dave Travis

Managing Director of Leadership Network

@davetravis

Next Tuesday: New Look, New Release for Advance

I have an enviable position at Leadership Network. We are privileged to work with the leaders of innovative churches in the U.S., Canada and Europe. We get to talk to lots of these leaders. We get to hear and see what they are doing.

Over 50 times a year we gather selected groups of these leaders at meetings where we explore with them in depth on various strategic issues. Many people ask us what we learn from all those conversations.

For 2011 we decided to summarize some of the key trends, waves and contours of the current scene for innovative churches. Each month different members of our staff will release a report on a frontline topic where we have done some research, thinking and exploring.

These reports will serve as summary thoughts in short, provoking ways. Each month we will offer a variety of resources on the topic including an article in Leadership Network Advance, a brief paper, a podcast and video. They will all cover the same material but you can select the format you feel is best for you.

We hope that you will read, watch or listen and then respond with your own learnings on the topic via this blog space. Each time we post something it will be in this space and the comments line will be open.

January’s Theme

For January we are leading off with the topic of Global Connection Churches and my friend Dr. Eric Swanson is leading this tour. Eric works with our Global Connection Leadership Community in this area but has also done great work through his travels to other countries and his doctoral work in this field.

Every era of the Western church has had to redefine what it means by “missions” and we are currently engaged in another revolution there. Eric gives us some contours in his upcoming report, suggesting implications for local churches like yours and mine.

So watch this space and if you have not subscribed to Leadership Network Advance to get the newsletter twice each month, click here to do so.

Redesign

And by the way, Advance will also have a new look and a new distribution system. We hope you find it even more helpful, and if for some reason you don’t receive it from our new sender, please click the link above to resubscribe.