Exponential 2011 - Reflections

This was my first Exponential. When you’ve endured the kind of dreary Winter and Spring that we Seattleites have, any opportunity to go to Orlando, Florida is a welcome opportunity. And when we say it is dreary, you know it has been bad. Even those of us who are lifers in Seattle were contemplating fake UV rays or urban mission trips into the heart of Scottsdale or the mean streets of Kaanapali. That said, Exponential was far deeper than a sunny getaway.

Though I planted 17+ years ago, I now also oversee a regional planting network and coach and train planters. Though my temptation was to simply attend those sessions that would most benefit the church I still pastor, I was there to gather ideas and info that would best equip our organization. The sheer number of possible options was almost overwhelming. I signed up for the pre-conference intensive called “Denominational & Church Planting Network Systems” with Ed Stetzer. Ed is a walking Wikipedia of church planting and organizational knowledge and statistics. I was in a room full of organizational execs (old guys) all wanting to know how best to maximize their resources and release their planters into their missional dreams. The knowledge and tools there were abundant, forward thinking and practical. And there was truly a sense that we were in this together – Baptists, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Open Biblers, etc.

We then gathered in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, a little church of 14,000 in Orlando. Though I know nothing about the church (except that they were exceptional hosts), the very structure was a helpful reminder that being missional or incarnational has nothing to do with size or structure (although I did notice a few house church community guys secretly drooling over the three 1000” backlit screens over the stage). The first main session set a beautiful tone with the energy of planter-types drunk with vision and a soul-searching challenge from Francis Chan who shared his recent journey of personal mission discovery. He urged us not to simply pander to the consumer-driven culture we so easily succumb to, and reminded us that if we are unwilling to be lonely and misunderstood we really have nothing to say.

Scores of breakout sessions covering everything from personal spirituality to fundraising to ethnic planting to the latest made-up church planting words filled the agenda in the next three days. Rick Warren led the morning bible studies. Kem Walker from Granger Church taught me how to think differently about the use of technology. She used the term “digital missions”, changing forever the way I view our online presence. Elliot Grudem from Acts 29 talked about common pitfalls of church planting. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, early adopters and pioneers in the missional movement  reminded me that when we call people to join us in following Jesus, we are calling them to a radical reorientation of every aspect of their life – don’t be too quick to assume that because they sign up to be greeters that they are truly with us on the journey. And Matt Chandler , in a session entitled “Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves” told me in no uncertain terms that if I’m not personally right with God, no matter how much talent I have or how well I can cover things up, I probably won’t end up liking the church I’m leading. In fact his quote was “In five years what you hate about the church will be what you hate about you.” Back off Matt, alright?

The main sessions took us on a journey of what it meant to be “On the Verge” (the theme of the conference). Fruitful practitioners like Dave Ferguson, Darrin Patrick and Matt Carter as well as brilliant thinkers with cool accents like Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch proposed that if we are going to truly connect with the lost in our culture, maybe we should actually get to know who they really are. Perhaps the big question is not whether we should use an LED bar or a PAR can. What if we tweaked the metrics for kingdom impact from how many are in the seats on Sunday to how many neighbors would want to have us to their home because we are making a difference in their everyday life? What if we commissioned every person in our church as a missionary to their community? What if we really loved our city, and what if we hung in there long enough that our city really loved us too? Maybe, just maybe then we could be on the verge of something truly hopeful. But most importantly we were given hope and examples that this can all move beyond theory and philosophy into implementation and reality. Perhaps an apostolic movement that has a missional/incarnational DNA can also have a graspable plan and structure.

In the last session we were introduced to a young lady who worked for Exponential. The week prior, this young lady became a follower of Jesus. So in front of the conference, Rick Warren (who baptized her mom), baptized her for all of us to celebrate. I sat there with tears in my eyes cheering on Jesus and remembering that this really is what it is all about - taking people who are not yet convinced on the journey with us into the Kingdom.

(and it was 90 degrees…)