Just to prove Tim loves autographing books, here’s a picture that Corey shared this afternoon. Just remember, you too could have an autographed Simply Strategic book of your choice if you win the big contest.

Slowly, but surely, we’re pushing toward 500 subscribers for the site. Seems like we ought to throw some sort of party or something when we break the barrier. What do you think? How should we celebrate that magical moment?

While we wait, I thought it would be fun to have a little contest. Let me know the date you think we’ll go over 500 subscribers through my FeedBurner feed. The first person to guess the right date will be the winner of the Simply Strategic book of your choice. I’ll even get Tim to autograph it. He loves to autograph books.

As you may recall, Granger did a weekend series last fall based on the TV show Lost. As part of the set design for that series, we had a crashed plane on the platform. After we were done with the plane, New Hope Community Church in Metamora, Illinois used it for their Lost series. Are you interested in using the plane? If so, there’s one available for free in central Illinois. All you have to do is pick it up and transport it to your church. Feel free to contact the church directly through their website and tell them "Tony sent me."

I can’t believe I forgot to post this on Friday. Hyatt has gone over the top with their soap. First of all, it big. Big hotel soap is the best. On top of that, it’s lumpy on one side. It’s not "bar soap." It’s a "soothing massage bar." Jeff liked it so much, he pocketed a bar to bring back home. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to announced that Hyatt has the honor of being my first A+ bar of hotel soap. Anyone else stay at Hyatt that can confirm they had the best hotel soap you’ve ever experienced?

Wow! We’ve had a fun couple of days in D.C. for the inaugural edition of the Buzz Conference. Here are my highlights from day two:

• I met some other bloggers this morning at the coffee house including Bruce from Perth, Australia. Found out Bruce listens to the Simply Strategic Show every week. I knew I liked the Aussies.
• My favorite line of the entire day was one of the first things that Mark Batterson said this morning in his opening session: "I’m convinced that how you feel about ministry largely depends on who you’re doing ministry with." I’m convinced of that as well.
• Mark also pointed out that "People who don’t attend the church get their theology from movies and music." Tru dat. (Thanks, Dawn, for helping me learn the urban lingo.)
• Brad from Church Marketing Sucks shared some great stuff including this gem: "The audience is always right. If they’re not getting the message, it’s your fault not their fault."
• Mark announced that there will be a couple of "simply strategic" speakers at next year’s Buzz Conference. Hope they’re good.
• Speaking of Dawn from AspireOne, she participated in a branding panel this afternoon. I’m paraphrasing here. She can correct me if I got this wrong, but I think she said something like "Don’t tell people what you want them to know, tell them what they need to hear." Did I get that right, Dawn?
• We took some time to walk by the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the White House. Apparently we just missed the President’s motorcade. Bummer.
• Jeff, Butch, Tim and I confirmed that at one point in our lives, we’ve all been president of something. We’re the ex-presidents. We make the Hyatt staff sing "Hail to the Chief" when we walk through the halls now.
• This evening we got to hang out at the Batterson abode. We got to hang out with cool people, eat lots of pizza and do a special podcast interview for next week’s show. (Pssst… Here’s a secret. There will be a big announcement in next week’s podcast.)

And, finally, I found out tonight that Mark and I share a common dream to get a call some day to participate in the Catalyst Conference. Mark has one advantage over me, though–he can actually speak. Maybe he’ll let me hold his notes while he talks. Do you think the guys that hold the notes get to have lunch with Andy Stanley? I hope so.

It was a great launch to the Buzz Conference today. Here are my highlights:

• Union Station is incredible. I love the setting of the conference. National Community Church has a good thing going with their strategy to add church locations in theaters at Metro stops.
• I got to see lots of blogging friends throughout the day including Robert Pooley, Ben Arment, Tally Wilgis, Scott Hodge, Gary Lamb, Greg Rohlinger, Brad Abare, Scott Harris, Dan Ohlerking, and, of course, Mark Batterson.
• Mark Batterson launched today’s conference with a reminder that Jesus called us to "compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled" (Luke 14:23).  He then revealed 5 of the 10 Buzz Commandments. Those included: (1) Thou shalt turn water into wine. We need to exceed people’s expectations. He challenged us to "Do it big and do it right." (2) Thou shalt preach from boats. We need to say old things in new ways. (3) Thou shalt offend Pharisees. If we dare to be different, we will be criticized. (4) Thou shalt hang out at wells. We need to bring the Gospel message to where people hang out. (5) Thou shalt crack the whip. Jesus was too dynamic to be safe. We need to be doing things that are bigger than we are. It stretches us. It makes us depend on God.
• Ed Young talked about how to be a creative leader. Among other things, I loved his list of questions he asks before he speaks:
  • What’s the point?
  • What’s the tension? (try to create tension 3 or 4 times in a message)
  • What’s the transition?
  • How do I pull it off?
  • How do I apply it? (information without application is an abomination; we need to answer the question so what?)
  • How is it different?
  • Is it your style?
  • Is it your stuff?
  • Is it your passion?
• We concluded the day by attending the Buzz Film Festival at Ebenezers. Wow! We saw some incredibly creative medias. I particularly loved the stuff from Sugar Creek Baptist Church near Houston. I’m pretty proud of our team as well, because two of the videos from Granger won first place in their categories. One was produced by Kim on our staff team and one was produced by Russ, a volunteer on our media team. Way to go guys!

That’s only day one. We have another big day planned for tomorrow.