The Miami Pursuit

My Trip to Community Christian Church Naperville

Blogger: Erin

This weekend I had the privilege to spend time with the staff and members of Community Christian Church Naperville, ILL.  This church has provided a lot of support for The Pursuit Christian Church.

The weekend began with conversations with Eric Metcalf, the small groups Champion for the church and Nick Plassman, the small groups director for the Naperville campus groups.  I was able to share my ideas and questions and consider their input as I continue to shape the small groups ministry for The Pursuit.  Nick and Eric were great to talk to and I am going home with plenty of things to work on and implement now in our small groups ministry.

I was also able to attend a church service of Community Christian Church as well as attend meetings that planned for the services. All of this was not only helpful to me in considering future plans for The Pursuit, but it was a personal blessing.   

I attended a small group in the home of my host family Jeff and Janet Miller and their two daughters where we talked about the message on Sunday and considered what it meant and how we can put it into practice.  This really sent the message home and made it real to all of us there.  I began to see what the Pursuit small groups would look like once our weekend services launch in January. 

The greatest thing I am taking away from this experience in Chicago is the interactions I had with members and leaders of this church, all who gave me many things to think about and inspired me to return to Miami with a plan for action.

Wishing I was There

Blogger: Matt

Just got off the phone with Brent Foulke, church planting guru and my coach, and he is attending the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. I really wanted to go this year but couldn't justify spending the money nor the time with launch coming so rapidly. A few bloggers I read are also there and documenting their experience so I am going to live vicariously through them.

I am hoping they podcast the sessions so I can get some more benefit.

Last Conference of '07

Posted by: Matt

I've gone to some amazing conferences this year:

The National New Church Conference, Willow Creek's Arts Conference, and the North American Christian Convention were all on top of their game this year.

Tomorrow we leave for our last conference of the year. The Reproducing Church Experience led by the NewThing Network is a two-day workshop where we are going to learn from the leaders of the best and most experienced "reproducing church," Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL.

Here's our schedule for the next few days.

What I am most looking forward to is this will be the first conference the entire team of The Miami Pursuit will be attending together. I can't wait for the conversations and the team building which will take place over the next few days.

Name Droppings

Last night at the NACC, Alex and I attended a dinner where Ed Stetzer spoke. About 200 people were in attendance. Stetzer really encouraged the independent Christian Church "movement" in their church planting efforts and recognized a lot of our churches who are leading the way in reproducing new churches. I doubt there is anyone in the States who knows more about planting churches than Stetzer. We (our movement) have a LONG way to go and I hope many people in that room caught a fresh word about the importance of church planting and will go back to their churches and get going.

Alex and I sat at a table loaded with people who are making a huge difference in the kingdom through church planting. Allow me to drop a few names.

Brent Foulke (my church planting coach who works with Orchard, Stadia, CPAC and about 1,421 other organizations)
John & Leslie Wasem
Tom & Debbie Jones (Stadia East & author of Church Planting from the Ground Up, a must for every church planter)
Pat Ferguson - Guy who is helping tons of church planters in very tangible ways through Church Planting Solutions
Todd Wilson - Big brains who went from a masters in nuclear engineering to executive minister of New Life Christian Church, and the creator of Passion for Planting.

Alex and I both felt a little like Wayne & Garth from Wayne's World. "We're not worthy!"

Kansas City - NACC pt. 2

As I am walking through first class on my way to my seat in the very back of the plane, I pass by Alex who is sitting down in his window seat and his eyes are huge. Then he mouths the words, "Def Leppard." The picture is Joe Elliot, lead singer, waiting for his luggage at baggage claim. Oh how the mighty has fallen. Hard to believe this used to be him.

Later, Alex and I are literally blocks from our hotel in downtown KC and a guy in a white Dodge Ram truck backs right into our rental car. Nice. I call 911 and the operator decides not to send any emergency vehicles because no one got hurt. We all drove to the nearest police station to report the accident. Luckily, the guy in the van admitted to the clerk the fault was his and she put it in the report.

Life is never boring when Alex and I are together.

Willow Creek Creative Arts Conference

Every year Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL hosts a conference focusing on the importance of using the arts in the Church. I've heard great things about this event and I am pumped to get to experience it for the first time. Alex mentioned months ago he would like for us to go and I've been looking forward to it since.

As I am writing this we've completed Day 1. Here's a recap:

After searching for a Starbucks for coffee we had to settle for McDonald's. Has anyone else noticed how insanely hot McDonald's serves their coffee? Our coffee was practically radioactive. Here's Alex trying to cool his down.

We arrived at Willow at 8:30 a.m. I can't believe I've grown up in the mid-west all my life and this is the first time I've been there. The rumors are true. It's a big church.

9:00 a.m. maybe too early for Crowder. That's just the opinion of a non-morning person. Dewitt Jones, photographer for National Geographic, spoke on the importance of creativity in all of our lives.

The next session was led by Nancy Beach who is one of the teaching pastors at Willow Creek. She is the mastermind behind this whole conference. I really appreciated her message and I got so wrapped up in it I forgot to take notes. She reminds me of an older Erin Diaz (our small groups pastor & Alex's wife). I like the instant interaction this conference is offering with their blog.

The final session of the day was led by Dan Kimball. He's the pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA and author of the new book "They Love Jesus but Not the Church." This is a massive wake up call to church leaders and Christ followers. After Dan Kimball spoke, seven church leaders tried to lead a panel discussion about how to fix the problem. The conversation was all over the place and really confused everything in my opinion. I hope Kimball's message was not lost because of it.

Alex and I were starving so we hit up Ted's and ate some bison. Yum.

Tonight was Willow Creek's "New Community" service and Crowder led worship and Donald Miller spoke. Miller is the best selling author of books like Blue Like Jazz & Searching for God Knows What. God used him tonight. I was completely enthralled. My takeaway: My life is my one opporutunity to tell a story. Make it a page turner, Mehaffey.

Conference Recap - Final Day

7:30 a.m. - Alex and I went to a breakfast sponsored by the NewThing Network. I enjoyed meeting Brian Zehr and the church planting team who is heading down to Kansas City this summer.

9:00 a.m. - 6th Session of the Pre-Launch Track with Matt Chandler from The Village Church. He spoke on being a transparent leader. Alex and I were both incredibly challenged. I know I have mentioned several new heroes of mine but Matt is joining my Justice League of Church Planters.

10:30 a.m. - Final Session of the Pre-Launch Track with Vince Antonucci from Forefront. Vince is an evangelism freak. He gave us many practical tips in "uncrossing the arms" of the lost when they walk into our church for the 1st time.

11:30 a.m. - Final Main Session. I saw a dude punch a chick square in the jaw and 1400 church planters cheered (don't worry it was with big padded gloves). I didn't hear Bill Hybels message but I did hear his response to the video we saw. I don't think he was a fan. I left early because I needed to get on the Florida Turnpike to head south to Miami where Janie would be waiting for me!

4:00 p.m. - I met up with Janie at Flamingo Road in Miami. She was at the Wired Churches Conference led by the Communications Team at Granger. Janie introduced me to Tim Stevens and Kem Meyer which was cool because I love their blogs. Janie was completely in her element. I not only have a hot wife but one who is insanely talented. We are going up to Granger in a few weeks to worship and learn.

5:00 p.m. - Janie and I were starving so we hit La Carreta (fantasic Cuban food) and shared what God was teaching us. We also started looking at houses and will continue the search tomorrow. We plan on picking up a digital camera this weekend and I'll try to post some pictures of some of the houses we like.

That wraps up the Exponential Conference 2007. We will be returning next year!

Conference Recap - Day 3

I am wiped. The day is a blur right now so I apologize if I seem scattered. Here was my day Jack Bauer style...

7:30 a.m. - Breakfast @ Le Peep (o.k. Jack would never eat at a place called Le Peep). Alex and I met Dan Donaldson and Brent Foulke for some grub. I've been eating horribly since I got to Orlando and I felt it this morning. I ordered the Breakfast Banana Split. It's bananas, topped with yogurt, blueberries and granola. I know it's incredibly feminine but I felt 100% better afterwards. I always enjoy my time with Dan and Brent. It is so encouraging to have men of God like them who are looking out for me in this church planting pursuit.

9:00-10:00 a.m. - Totally missed the 1st session, but I got to talk to Janie. I can't wait to see her tomorrow in Miami.

11:00-12:00 p.m. - Jim Putman is a mad man for small groups and it shows. He leads a church in Idaho in a town of 17,000 that runs 8,000 people and 7,000 of those people are in small groups. For those who may not know...that is unheard of. That is truly a church of small groups.

12:00-1:00 p.m. - Bloggers Roundtable.

1:00-2:00 p.m. - Checked on my Fantasy Baseball Team which is still in 1st place.

3:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Shawn Lovejoy led a session on the importance of communicating & protecting the vision God has given me for this church planting movement in Miami. I need to embrace & understand my role as a "prophet of God." Some will accept the vision others will attack it. That's o.k. Whether it's a 1st time attender or a key staff member if they aren't in harmony with the vision God is instilling in me there are many doors leading out and it's my responsiblity to show them one. Shawn Lovejoy is also becoming a hero of mine!

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Dave Ferguson absolutely fired me up about the multi-church strategy we are going to implement in the Miami area. I haven't even planted one and I can't wait to plant the 2nd and the 10th! I must have been delirious during this session because I vaguely remember flying bunnies. Spoke with Dave, Eric, and Jon afterwards and introduced them to Alex. I can't wait to sit in on the Big Idea meetings on Tuesday in Chicago.

6:00 p.m. - Alex and I went to Pizza Hut and killed a Meat Lovers Pizza (I told you I wasn't eating healthy).

7:25 - 9:00 p.m. - We went to see Blades of Glory. Ridiculous. It was the perfect movie to watch when you're brain dead.

I'm going to bed where I am confident I will dream about bunnies on ice skates.

Conference Recap - Day 2

This morning I sat in the 2nd half of the "Creative Communications" pre-conference track. Brad Abare, founder of the Center for Church Communications and Church Marketing Sucks, did a great job challenging us to lead churches that clearly communicates to the world whether it's through the web, print media or spoken word.

For lunch, Alex and I met with up with about 10 other church planters. It was an amazing time. We connected with Matt Payne, Lead Pastor of Church! @ Bethany in Portland, Oregon and Steve Sporre, the Worship Pastor. Really cool guys. Matt kinda looks like Edward Norton. They launched Church! @ Bethany six months ago. I plan on keeping in touch with Matt because I know I could learn a lot from him.

The main session today was amazing. Wayne Cordeiro was the speaker. I must be hiding under a rock because I'd never heard of him. All I can say is he is a new hero of mine.

We started the Pre-Launch track and heard Ed Stetzer and Wayne again. Did I mention he is my hero? I could listen to him for hours.

Finally, Portable Church Industries and National Cinemedia setup a church in a movie theater in Orlando and invited any church planter to come check out their presenation. We did. It was amazing. Alex and I were pumped about envisioning what our Sunday morning worship experiences could like.

Conference Recap - Day 1

Hello from sunny Orlando!

Alex Diaz and I met up this morning with just enough time to check in to the hotel, grab a bite at Chili's and get to the pre-conference. Batterson's course was good and I saw Bill Wolf, a friend and fellow church planter. His church, Crossings, where he leads worship and handles the creative elements is 10 weeks old!

Saw Travis Johnson, Lead Pastor at Life Pointe Church in Homestead, FL briefly in the hallway. Can't wait to hang with him later this week. He is one of those rare people who is consistenly genuine.

I met Dave Ferguson and Eric Bramlett during a break. I am heading up to Naperville on Tuesday to sit in on a couple Big Idea meetings. I just finished the book (loved it) and I can't wait to see how it's fleshed out in person.

Alex and I ran into Nate and Joe and the four of us had an awesome dinner at Bongo's in Downtown Disney. These guys are comfortable friends. I love hearing their passion for the people of New Zealand. It reminds me so much of ours for Miami.