It's very quiet around here this morning. I'm sitting here in my favorite chair with a cup o joe reflecting on all that I saw and heard at Innovation3 Gathering that concluded yesterday. Personally it was a phenomenal time of connecting and networking with a ton of old and new friends. I met so many young ministry leaders there that I would probably never cross paths with had we not gathered in Dallas this week. If I had to boil it down to just one thing that I took away from this gathering, it would be this -- how encouraged and hopeful I am for the future of the Church. As ministry leaders (and servants), we will always have our struggles and disagreements. That's just part of the deal. Beyond all that, I witnessed a real hunger for connection, for learning, for community, and for a real sense of mission, as overused as all of those terms are. As great as it was to hear positive feedback from conference participants, I know that there was so much more going on during those two days than just another Christian conference. Yet again, God showed up and put together some incredible encounters for us.
If you didn't have an opportunity to be there with us in person, you'll have an opportunity to virtually experience much of Innovation 3 in the coming weeks. We recorded just about everything! Todd Rhoades, aka The Monday Morning Insight Guy, told me last night that we probably captured and recorded somewhere between 40-50 hours of content. That includes audio and video recordings of main sessions and breakouts. We'll be rolling that out for you soon. Some of it is already posted on the Innovation 3 website. We'll post more on the site as we get to it. More details on that later.
Here's the link to the Innovation 3 Conference Live! site. You may want to check out the photos and other stuff posted there when you have a few minutes.
I'm keeping this post brief today. There's so much still rolling around in my head this morning. As the consummate introvert, I need some time to process and reflect. I just wanted to say thank you -- thank you to all of you who invested the time and the dollars to join us in Dallas this week. My thanks to God for showing up and for orchestrating the entire experience. And lastly, my thanks to God and to Leadership Network for providing this vocation for me. This is certainly not the path in life I would have chosen for myself. I wish I could say that I developed this tremendous, focused, intentional strategy for my life that led me to where I am today. The truth is, I stumbled into this vocation, I thought by accident. I'm glad that God had (and has) plans for me.
Well Mr. White, aka Coffee Drinking Cat, is actually drinking my coffee right now so I'm abandoning that cup and heading over to the kitchen to get another cup. Stay tuned for further Innovation 3 developments.
Linda Stanley directs the Life Stage Leadership Community Groups for senior pastors.
Linda, thanks to you and the Leadership Network team. You all model humility, encouragement and kindness. Thanks for loving on us by hosting this conference. dave gibbons
Posted by: dave gibbons | January 29, 2009 at 12:06 PM