We do a national conference once a year. And we’ve been doing anywhere between three to six regional conferences a year.
Those take a lot of organization.
And energy.
And there are lots of moving parts to synchronize. I wonder if there’s a better option to reach as many people in person as possible?
I recently attended a book signing in Dallas. It was held in the evening at a nicer private home. There were about thirty people or so in attendance. The author gave a short lecture based on one of the chapters in his book. Then he took questions, and people mingled.
I’m wondering if we should do something similar.
Instead of a mere book signing, however, I wonder if we could start doing “Free Grace Evenings.” It would be simpler than a regional. One speaker would fly into a city for a night of lectures. We would meet in a private home or a church. The speaker would give a few short messages (30 min each?) based on his book or some topic, from 7-9 pm or so. Then he’d fly back home the next day—or if it was the weekend, maybe speak at a church.
Yes, there’d be less content than a regional conference. But it would be much easier and cheaper to organize. Speakers would have more flexibility to work it into their schedules (instead of it always being a Fri night/Saturday). And it would mean that Bob, Ken, and I (and possibly other speakers) could hold many different meetings around the country at the same time. One month Bob could be speaking in Salt Lake City, Ken could be in Pittsburgh, and I could be in Nashville….or (sigh) even Honolulu if I absolutely must.
Phil
This sounds like a great idea!
The only thing I would like to point out is that the conferences are absolutely FULL of good information. They are, in essence, graduate level bible study classes from a Free Grace perspective. It isn’t easy to find lectures like this!
David Yamarick
This would be wonderful. God’s grace, David
KEN TAMASHIRO
Hi Pastor Shawn,
I like that idea and maybe have it recorded so that others who can’t come will get the same benefits.
I’m thinking the Technology is there why not.
Grace and Peace to You,
Ken Tamashiro
Peter J. Markavage
I would recommend a tempered approach; you don’t want to have to fly out to a new place every evening of a week. Instead, compromise. You don’t want to do regional meetings, but perhaps do a “mission” (Catholic lingo) or revial/mini conference and have each speaker do only One a month. That is doable. Where I work, I only prepare the speaker’s flights, letter of good standing, and travel arrangements. The church handles everything else because they provide the venue, they provide the time and sessions, they provide the food, they provide the lodging (rectory or hotel room) etc. Let the host church handle that for you. Maybe even let a host family have you; great one on one Free Grace witness.
My opinion only, I just don’t think you’re going to get as much impact on a hit or miss evening. Stick with the one national conference and just start doing a whole bunch of “missions” of speaking on a weekend, etc. (when most people are out of work) and only go once a month so you don’t miss fellowship in your own church. Just my two cents. If your message catches fire, there may be someone from the ‘revival’ or ‘mission’ willing to do the ‘regional’ conference for you .. it happens.
Delia Curry
Ah-now you’ve added instead of subtracting from expenses & work-loads. I love regional conferences. As pointed out by Phil, they are in depth information that stirs minds to understanding. They train young Christians in hermeneutics, in more than just applications. Book signings in homes limits how many and even where these occur, as beneficial as they would also be.
Tim Amoroso
Nice proposal.