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I’m sitting at the Columbus airport, ready to catch a plane back home. I can’t wait to see my family. But, I thought I’d let you in on some of the things I was a part of. If you followed on Twitter you caught some, but here you’ll be able to see more.
Thursday: left home at 10 am PST, arrived at the hotel in Columbus at 1 am EST. Long day.
Affinity Groups. I began Friday with an affinity group team meeting at 9am before hanging out with my friend Tony Hall. Affinity groups were a great part of the conference. Got to sit around with others in college ministry and discuss life in ministry together. We met twice a day and had some meals together. It was fun.
Panels. I sat on one panel alongside Rick Lawrence and Kurt Johnston and we discussed “the state of youth ministry today.” It was fun, interactive, and insightful. Those guys have some very good thoughts in this regard, for sure. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. But, we had two of these discussions, each time having a full room of people. We took Q&A, which led to GREAT conversation.
Another panel I sat on was one for bloggers. Man, did I feel like an idiot! I don’t have a clue when it comes to “techie” stuff, and this is what this was about. Frankly, I didn’t even know if I should’ve been on the panel. On the other hand, I think having me as the “token tech idiot” was good for some in the room who were just like me. Sometimes it’s encouraging to know that you’re not the only one that doesn’t have a clue – and yet can still blog. To the left is Josh Griffin leading this panel.
Seminars. I did an 8 hour track with Kara Powell (left picture) on “preparing teenagers for life after youth group.” Nice how the picture makes me look fat too. Weird. Anyway, it was fun to do with her and to have discussion with everyone that came. Having 8 hrs together really helped to dive much deeper in discussion. The round tables really helped with discussion too! I met some really cool people! I included a pic of the room right before a session began as well. I also did a condensed version of our track this morning in an hour and a half. Very difficult to do, but I think it went ok. I also took about 45 minutes afterwards for Q&A. It was fun, and I think fruitful.
Main sessions. I had this time to rest, for the most part. I enjoyed going and listening to the messages and seeing some of the videos. There was a very funny video shown last night – hilarious music video about youth ministry. Jake is a stud! Once I get ahold of that I’ll post it.
Hanging out. Throughout the conference people asked to hang out for a bit to discuss life, ministry, or just to connect. I love this part! I had the privilege of sitting down with some phenomenal people! This conference has many of them – for sure! Really fun. I think I had the chance to sit down with at least 10 different people individually – for coffee, a meal, or just grabbing a sack chair in the lobby!