Speakers
One of the main reasons why you go to a conference like this is for the speakers. Last week we heard, Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Erwin McManus, Leonard Sweet, Craig Groeschel, Francis Chan, and a host of other church leaders. Some of the speakers had some whacky hermeneutics, but even when I disagreed with a speaker’s philosophy of ministry, it was a good time to stir the pot and think through what I believe. I really enjoyed Stanley and Groeschel.

Environment
There was around 11,000 people there! It was a really charged atmosphere…basically sensory overload! …essentially a big budget CIY for adults. haha

Free Stuff
When you go to a conference like this you can be sure of one thing: free stuff. Some of it is junk, and some of it is really cool. I have a big pile of stuff in our office to weed through. I got a lot of trial run stuff, and free samples, so that was cool. (That makes me feel better about not having enough money to buy books)!

Food
We were eating constantly…which is a good thing in my opinion!

Orchestra
The opening session had this intro band with a full orchestra! They really rocked out the strings…shep woulda loved it (either that or thought it was too loud =)

Music
Despite the the fact that there was a cool rock band/ orchestra the music got very tiring. The bands would play a song…FOR AN HOUR! And then they would play 5 more songs. It became mind numbing. We were all tired of noise by the end of the week. I love music, and I had no problems with those bands, but I was so ready for them to stop playing. We all were.

Hotel Rooms
Who charges 10$ for continental breakfast? I’d rather go to Denny’s for that price. LAME.

The Drive
I love road trips, but the trip started at 4AM. I couldn’t sleep in the car very well…so I was really tired by the end of the trip. it took us about 7 hours to get home, and this was after all the mind numbing music, and all the other busy things we did all week. I think I slept till 2:00PM the following day. Of course I also came home to a sick family…and now I have a cold. Yay.

The Best Part
The best part of the trip was getting to hang out with the staff! It was a great time where we could spend time together. We talked about ministry, philosophies, and we just enjoyed each other’s company. It was just a lot of fun to hang out with all of them. The staff dynamic at Grand Avenue is rare in ministry (which is a shame). Everyone gets along very well together.

All in all…great trip!

tim