California Dreamin'

The rocks around the tide pools at Laguna Beach.
One of my favorite places to visit, and
I got to go there today!

The NEXT Conference, hosted by Provision Ministries in Irvine, California, started last night with a stimulating discussion led by Greg Nettle. He described his struggle with the question, "What is our church doing to make disciples?" This came as he saw longterm attendees at his church who were as scarred by the sins of our culture as people outside the church. He challenged us with his church's decision to create communities in neighborhoods to reach and serve their neighborhoods and make disciples. And his congregation is seeking to invest 30% of its budget on their weekend gatherings in the church building and 70% on ministry outside the building, instead of visa versa.

Today Paul Williams presented material based on his doctoral research that shows the connection between the DISC profiles of church planters and the success of their new church plants. He followed this up with material about how family systems influence church function--or dysfunction, as is often the case.

We spent some time discussing our individual landing spot with regard to our identity with and for the fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ, and then broke for the day.

Jeremy Brown and Greg Lee were two in our beach party.

Bart Stone, always smiling, especially
in this beautiful spot.

I had the chance to ride with some others for a quick walk on Laguna Beach during our afternoon break. The conversations to and from the beach were filled with talk of ministry problems and opportunities and approaches. The same was true for the animated discussion around the dinner tables at  Bluewater Grill this evening.

A good day. A challenging day. I'm tired, but I need to pack up and be ready to start again at 8:30 tomorrow for a session that will last till noon. Then a flight to St. Louis through Denver to meet Evelyn who will be attending a conference for college English teachers the rest of the week.