The Exponential East Church planting conference takes place April 28-May 1, 2014 in Orlando, FL. This is the largest gathering of church planting leaders in the world. The conference theme is “Seek + Save” and will feature 100+ speakers, 125+ workshops, 15+ tracks, & 5,000 church planting leaders.
Exponential 2014 will take a fresh look at evangelism — proclaiming the Good News — as we rethink and challenge some of our old paradigms and rediscover some of Jesus’ old truths. Within the context of discipleship, we will press into five key areas of evangelism:
ReThinking Evangelism | ReThinking Outreach |
ReThinking Witness ReThinking Preaching | ReThinking Commission
This year will be our (my wife Laura and I) fourth year attending Exponential. Every year it’s been challenging, encouraging, and inspiring. This year it has a much different feel though. I can’t let the cat completely out of the bag, but I’ll just say that in the next 12-18 months we believe God wants to use us to launch something new! Much more to come on that in the weeks ahead.
Attending conferences is great. But there are a few things we can do to get the most out of it. Check out this post, 5 Do’s and Don’ts to Make the Next Conference You Attend Radically Beneficial. HERE is another helpful post from @revchadbrooks.
Here are 3 reasons the Exponential Conference is a must:
1. The Content
There is SO much amazing content offered at this conference. WAY too many options, LOL! But it’s such a mix of people, churches, seasons of life/planting/launching new churches, etc., that there is something for everyone.
The content at Exponential is broken into at least three categories…
1. Pre-Conference
Two half day sessions before the main conference begins.
I will attend the Beyond the Call Pre-Conference hosted by Passion for Planting.
The description: “developing the launch plan, building a launch team, marketing/outreach, leadership/staffing and creating/funding the vision. We’ll also dive into those practical “have to” topics like legal documentation and your portable church equipment. We all know church planting is hard and we’ll address issues head on with the topic of Planter Heath.”
I’m super pumped about these sessions. The topics deal with the main questions we have about next steps.
There are 6 other pre-conference tracks. Each of them is loaded with great content.
2. Main Sessions
All of the main sessions will be streamed LIVE and FREE. For dates and times (EDT) of all 10 webcast sessions, consult http://exponential.org/webcast.
The main session topics and speaker line-up:
Rethinking Evangelism: Nicky Gumbel, Dave Gibbons, Vince Antonucci, Ed Stetzer, John Teter, & Louie Giglio.
Rethinking Outreach: Jim Bergen, Choco DeJesus, Larry Osborne, Alan Hirsch, & Damian Boyd.
Rethinking Witness: Michael Frost, Hugh Halter, Danielle Strickland, Craig Groeschel, Jeanne Stevens, & Greg Nettle.
Rethinking Preaching: James Meeks, Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, & Dave Ferguson.
Rethinking the Great Commission: Dave Ferguson, Greg Nettle, Greg Surratt, Matt Chandler, Dave Travis, Oscar Muriu, Dave Ferguson, & Bill Hybels.
3. Workshops
Over 125 workshops are on the menu! Overwhelming??? But amazing opportunities to hear leading practitioners up close. And they’re all recorded and podcast-ed FREE. I listen to workshops from previous years regularly. LOADED with great content.
2. The People
Content is great, but life and ministry is all about people! There are a LOT of people to meet at Exponential! Two groups of people are especially important…
Network Leaders
It’s one thing to fill out forms online, talk on the phone, and Skype. But Exponential gives us the opportunity to meet leaders in person, both formally and informally.
My wife and I will attend an informal BBQ Mon hosted by Stadia, a banquet Tues evening hosted by Stadia, a luncheon Wed hosted by AmbassadorNet and the EFCA, and a dinner party Wed evening hosted by NewThing.
Friends (old and new)
For the third year in a row my wife and I will be with her sister and husband (my bro-in-law). They planted a few years ago and are praying about being a part of something new. It’s an honor for us to share this week seeking God and dreaming together.
There are many other old friends we look forward to seeing, sharing, laughing, and maybe crying with.
No doubt we will meet and make many new friends. Only God knows the divine appointments that await all 5000+ of us attending!
3. The Experience with my Wife
I’m blessed to have the opportunity to attend Exponential with my wife Laura. We’ve done this the last several years and it’s a highlight every year. We love to debrief and talk about all we’re learning, hearing, and experiencing together. And of course it’s nice to unplug & unwind after hours with my best friend and closest ministry partner!
Exponential Main Sessions STREAMING FREE!
If you’re not able to attend you can watch the main session for FREE! Register HERE.
This year I will be part of the #Exponential Social Media team. From Mon-Thurs I’ll be tweeting (@ed_choy using #exponential) from the pre-conference, main sessions, and workshops.
QUESTION: what’s the most significant or favorite church planting resource?
Great post, Ed. Thanks for your continuing support of Exponential. Give my regards to Dale Spaulding and Pat Furgerson if you’re able to meet with them in Orlando.
Hey Ron, I got to hear Dale but through the craziness of it all I didn’t get to talk with him. I plan on following up this week though. I’d love to come meet him and talk about Passion for Planting. Was an amazing conference. I’m about to post highlights. Thanks for connecting!
Good deal Ed. Glad you enjoyed the conference. Hey, when you have your meeting with Dale scheduled please shoot me a note. I would love to get to drop in and meet you in person if the scheduling cooperates.
That would be great Ron!
Have a great time Ed! I had to pass this year with Avelyn just being born, but I get the chance to be a part of the Stadia crew next year and hopefully will be able to take Aimee with me for it! I loved my experience last year especially the people i met while volunteering for the pre-conference, it was the catalyst for stepping out of a secure job to focus fully on getting the Grove off of the ground.
Hey Scott, I met Nick Boring who said he is working with you. Crazy small world, huh! We had a great time meeting and getting to know the Stadia folks. And we’re pumped to hear all God is doing in and through you guys. Let’s continue tracking with each other. We’ll both need all the support we can get! We’ll be launching next Fall, 2015!