I’ve seen a lot of conferences out there for people that do digital ministry, but I have not yet seen one that does it specifically for these staff and volunteers. Sure, you have the Catalyst conference which is amazing, but that is more focused on Christianity as a whole faith and religion. Then you have others like The Social Church, but that looks at very niche aspects of social ministry within the church. There are blogger conferences and digital marketing, but I had not found one that was Christian based yet.
Until now:
The Church Conference
That Church Conference is a digital church conference that is making it’s debut this September in Atlanta, GA and is advertised as “practical training from actual practitioners working for some of the most influential churches and ministries in America.” They have a great speaker line up from active and former church digital ministry directors and parachurch staff. Of course, I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with Justin Dean who is the main man running the conference and asked him a couple of great questions:
- Why is it that a conference in person would be great for digital speakers?
It would be easier, and cheaper, if we did the conference online – and we talked about doing that at first – but that’s not the experience that we are going for.We’re building a conference based on mutual respect, learning, and equipping between attendees, speakers, and conference organizers. That Church Conference will be an intimate setting where conference attendee can get to know each other, as well as interact with the speakers.Our desire is to really engage one another, as we help equip church communicators to grow the church. There are enough church conferences, offline and online, that are basically full of lectures. You can get a lot out of them, but we’re hoping to take it a step further and get into practical application of what we’re teaching.We preach that our digital efforts should ultimately bring people closer to Jesus and in relationship with the body of believers. What we do online should enhance what we do offline, not replace it. We believe a live conference, where we can all work together in the same room towards the same goals will have a greater impact.Plus, you know, really looking forward to happy hour and karaoke with Tim Schraeder.
- What is it that we could learn at a conference that we couldn’t just get from great #churchcomm bloggers like yourself?
What I’ve found is that the people blogging the most about church communications aren’t the one’s in the trenches working for churches. They’re sharing great insights and good knowledge, but it’s not always as applicable as you’d hope. And most of them are putting their desire to grow their platform and make money, over the desire to equip and grow the church. Even the communications directors and social media managers working for churches who like to blog, they aren’t consistent because they’re so busy and so focused on the mission of their church. This isn’t the case for everyone of course, but it’s just what I’ve seen.When Van, Dave, Ashley, and I got together and started talking about putting together a conference, the whole idea birthed out of our belief in practitioners over theory. Real magic happens when church communicators get together and help each other out.When I was at Mars Hill, it wasn’t the conferences I attended, or the blogs I read that really helped. What helped was when the people at Saddleback sent us binders and binders of data and info on how to plan a stadium event when we decided to do Easter at the Seahawks stadium. It was when NewSpring flew their entire media team out for a week to collaborate with us on how to run sermon campaigns. It was when James MacDonald’s team picked up the phone and talked us through their marketing and web design theories.I strongly believe if you want to learn from other churches, you’ve got to pick up the phone and talk to their people. You’ve got to visit with them and engage with them. The relationships I’ve built with other church communicators have been some of the most fruitful relationships I have.So we decided if we’re going to do a conference, it’s going to be different. We’re not setup to make money off of this thing. None of us will be pitching anyone for our services, our books, or anything else. We’re getting church communicators, marketers, social media managers, content teams, pastors, and more, all in one room so we can work together and figure out how to grow the church using the digital means that God has gifted us with.
Our speakers aren’t going to take the stage and tell you how it is. We see them more like facilitators than they are speakers. What they all have in common is that they are tried and tested. Each one has been to war in one way or another. Each one has a strong passion and desire to equip and grow the church, above and beyond anything else. We’re all ready to jump in the trenches with you so we can figure out together what it’s going to take for your church to break through the next challenge.
- For those that plan to go, how could they prepare for the conference?
Leave all your conference expectations at home. This is going to be a TON of fun, but it’s not going to be a retreat. Bring your laptop and a Moleskine and prepare to be challenged and stretched.
Eric Dye says
If only it wasn’t such a long drive… 😛
Jeremy Smith says
I’d recommend not driving across the Atlantic. 😉