Thanks for hosting such a HIGH-IMPACT conference!

My team and I came from New York (a 13 hour drive) and you can bet that we’ll be back next year!

Keep up the great work!

In the way of evaluation, the conference was great. My suggestions would be to have the breakouts be 50% organized content - 50% questions. Or possibly get the questions in advance so it could be a little more focused. It would also be helful to have handouts with specific information rather than the staff having to say “e-mail me and I’ll send…”

Finally, I would love to attend a breakout on building and facility and the thoughts that went into specific building decisions.

It was a great conference. The price and format allowed me to bring some volunteers, and we’ll definitely attend next year with even more people, should you do it again.

Vision, Vision, Vision!!! Now I should already know this, but as Andy Stanley says, Vision leaks. And so I needed a refreshed infusion of the importance of Vision. But it wasn’t just some talking head telling me that I need to be compelled with Vision, Perry Noble was a living demonstration of that. He said if you can sleep, than you don’t have a vision. Vision keeps their church focused. They make choices and say Yes or No to many good things, based on a commitment to vision. God speaks to the leader with Vision, not committees. A leader must listen and hear from God. And when he does, he should be driven by that Vision.

Heart for the lost. I love Perry’s singular heart for the lost. It reminds me of what attracted me to be with Campus Crusade for 17 years, Dr. Bill Bright had a singular passion for Christ and for people to come to know Him. Perry’s passion fires me up.

Heart for pastors. Perry loves pastors. And I know this not because he said it and prayed for them. But just look at the heart of this conference, resourcing and building up churches and their leaders. Perry is not territorial, keeping everything to himself. He wants to give himself away. Perry has a great Kingdom mindset and heart. My lead pastor came because of my prompting. I had heard Perry and was familiar with him, my lead pastor, Jon, wasn’t. But at the end of the conference, Jon said that I could sign him up next year in a heart beat. What particularly endeared Jon to Perry was Perry’s heart for the senior pastor. Being prayed over at the end of the conference was something, Jon said, he rarely has seen in the heart of another pastor.

So I guess that means, Lord willing, we will be back next year.

Way to go and be used by God, New Spring Church, Perry and Tony.

As far as being cocky. I have to think that Jonathan was pretty cocky as he climbed the side of a hill and defeated an acres worth of guys with just his sword and his body guard. Or maybe Paul was a little cocky walking back into a town where the people had just beaten him and left him for dead and he said, I didn’t get to finish what I was saying. Or maybe David could have been construed as a little cocky when he stood in front of a giant with a handful of stones.

All these people were cocky because their mission was backed by God. If your leader is not a little cocky then maybe he is relying on himself.

Lastly, the two things that will probably stay with me forever is:

1. when Perry had all the Senior Pastors stand up and had everyone pray for those leaders, his staff came from all over the place to pray for him (it was like some kind of special ops deal. Was really moving).

2. We were standing in the parking lot getting ready to leave (we were one of the last ones to leave) and one of the volunteers came out with a note pad in hand and ask us if there was anything she could do to make our trip home better (what a trip). And she did. She told us how to get to our favorite restaurant, a shortcut home and what was next was as good as Perry’s session. I ask her what her role was on the weekend and she told me that she was a front side greeter at all four services because she smokes what New Spring is selling (she said this with heart). She then told us of her involvement for many years at other churches and how when her teenagers quit going to church she was crushed. Her teens then started coming to New Spring and so her and her husband decided to check it out. The first Sunday her and her husband wept like babies and are hooked on New Spring and what God is doing. I had tears in my eyes as this volunteer told us with passion why she does what she does. I was so tempted to kidnap this lady!

Our team is pumped, we will do everything we can to bring all of our volunteers next time.

so much of it is exactly what we do here at healing place church - the hiring almost entirely people from within our own farm system; focus on pleasing God, not the people; committees ARE satan, and one of my personal favorites… people will leave - it’s okay.

and when it all boils down what is left is the question brad just answered - are people being brought to Jesus? i totally believe that doing church the way Perry has described in your notes here is crucial to making it possible for a church to do all it can to give people a chance to encounter Jesus.

can’t wait to visit a service myself - see ya in may.