Business Disciplines Conference

Pastor Elders Blessing the Gathering

“If you build it, they will come.” This line from the movie Field of Dreams resonated through my mind as I reflected on Pastor Amos’ comment that when he organizes a conference people really come…and they come with high expectations. I thought it might be a bit haughty of him to say such a thing, but instead what I found was a man who worked and worked HARD to be sure they all came. As a matter of fact he missed so much of the morning ministry time because he was busy preparing the conference and being sure every small need was met.

The more I heard about these previous conferences from the pastors who attended the morning leadership meetings the more intimidated I became. How could I possibly measure up to those high standards? My old performance-driven self began to rise up and quake. And the people came…and they came. Every day of the four-day workshop included more than…MORE than 133 people. I know this because only those who attended all four days would receive a certificate and I signed 133 certificates.

Everyone was so serious about capturing all the information.

I tend to use the adult teaching methods – small groups, practical applications – and wondered how such a thing would ever work with this very large group…but it did. Based on the needs described by the organizer, we identified useful workshop and ministry topics for the sessions and they generally tended to center around biblically-based business disciplines. These workshops were no different. They were designed to start changing the way people think and lead toward a viable business idea that could be implemented right now today. Not only do people come away with viable business ideas, they come away with the ability to have the idea generating and development meetings themselves, after I’ve gone. Sustainable, reproducible, actionable.

Fewer than half the participants. A group shot of 133 was tough.