When Rick Warren speaks, most of the church world listens. That’s why it was fun to open up his weekly newsletter this morning and find an article from Perry sharing the NewSpring story. Check out this week’s Ministry ToolBox. Perry’s article is in the "Pastor’s Ministry Library" section.

By the way, it looks like Rick is catching a little blogworld flack regarding attendance numbers at Saddleback. My friend, Mark Kelly, has responded on the Rick Warren blog. Mark wrote, "If the Son of God himself had critics who couldn’t be satisfied, what can any of us expect?" Tru dat.

I’m pumped up about the Unleash Conference on March 15. This is NewSpring’s very first church leadership conference. It’s only one day. And it’s stinking cheap…especially if you register before the early bird deadline this Thursday, March 1. Since it’s priced at only $45 person, we have a number of folks bringing teams of staff and volunteer leaders.

Here are a few more news items regarding the conference:

• Even though it’s still three weeks away, we already have just under over 300 people registered.
• There are folks coming from 14 different states at this point. My South Carolina peeps are in the minority. We’re outnumbered 2 to 1.
• Currently the largest group is 20 people from Rockbridge Community Church in Dalton, GA. Way to go Rockbridge!
• In case you’re wondering, I finally convinced Perry to let me do a breakout session. I get to do a question and answer session on "Blogging & Communications." That should be a blast!
• Speaking of bloggers, I’ve heard several are coming. Todd confirmed he’s joining us. Gary said he’s coming. I heard a rumor that Scott is also joining us. This could very well become a blogfest of sorts.

We’re providing barbecue for lunch. The music will be loud. I’m praying for sunny and 70. There’s really no excuse to pass on this opportunity. Tell all your friends. We’ll save them a seat.

We had quite a gathering at NewSpring this evening. As you can see, it was standing room only in the atrium. I don’t know exactly how many, but I think we baptized a couple of hundred people this evening. I love seeing people go public with their decisions to follow Jesus. It was a fun night.

Scott has a great interview with Lee McDerment, one of NewSpring’s worship leaders. He’s the veteran on the team. You can check out Lee’s blog or listen to some of his music. (Don’t worry–it’s not country music. It’s safe to listen.)

I’ve been getting updates from my peeps at NewSpring, and we’re really excited about what’s happening with the Unleash Conference on March 15. As you know, this is the first event of its kind at NewSpring, so we had no idea how folks would respond…but people are responding. The registration numbers are exceeding our expectations, and it’s looking like we may have twice as many folks as we had originally projected. That’s way cool.

I’m been talking with old friends and new friends throughout the country that are planning to be in Anderson next month. I love that, because I’m finally going to get to meet some people in person from the blog world. I’m really looking forward to that.

Remember, Perry has priced this event so that it’s stinking cheap. It’s only $45 if you register by the end of this month. He did that so you wouldn’t come alone. If you want to help your team catch a new vision for ministry, the easiest way to do that is to bring your team with you.

Eat a free barbecue lunch. Check out NewSpring’s brand new campus. Meet the leaders from NewSpring’s team. Hear Perry Noble uncensored. What more could you want?

P.S. — For you bloggers that are planning on joining us, let me know if you’d like for us to organize a gathering. If there are enough people interested, I’ll see what we can do to have a blog gathering sometime during the day.

Sorry for the long delay since my last post. I’ve been busy. On Sunday I flew down to South Carolina to meet up with my new teammates from NewSpring Church. We left yesterday morning to drive north to Asheville, NC for a planning retreat. Here are some highlights from the trip so far:

• There was a major snow event here in Asheville on Sunday night. It’s hard to estimate, but I’m guessing they received as much as a quarter inch of snow. It’s my understanding that the schools were closed yesterday. It’s a good thing Perry has a four-wheel drive vehicle. I don’t think we would have made it to our destination without it.
• We’re staying at this hotel in Asheville. I’ve never heard of it before, but it’s pretty nice. Incredible view of the mountains. I know a number of you will ask, so let me just say right up front, they have big bar soap. Probably the best bar of hotel soap I’ve ever had. There’s no question in my mind, I’m going to have to give it an A+.
• To be honest, I’m wondering why Perry brought us here though. So far, the only part of the hotel I’ve gotten really familiar with is the inside of the hotel’s conference room. Our agenda is packed. (Hence the lack of blogging.) It’s good though. We have a lot to talk about concerning what’s coming next for NewSpring Church. Big stuff. I’m pretty excited about what we’ve addressed so far.
• By the way, the cookies in the conference room have been really good. The mints, on the other hand…not so good. Perry spit his out last night when we were at the hotel restaurant. Kind of embarrassing.
• Perry is my roommate for this trip. Just want to note for the record that he’s had plenty of time to blog while we’ve been up here. I’m working like a dog to keep up and don’t have time to blog. Hope this trend doesn’t last. I’m going to have to have a word with the boy if it does. (Here’s a picture of Perry’s running shoes just to prove I’m staying in his room.)
• We head back to Anderson tomorrow, and I fly back to South Bend on Thursday. Mark Beeson’s going to let me share a few things with the New Community crowd on Thursday night. I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully we don’t get any more snow, though, down here. Another quarter inch and it may shut down the airport.

Got to get back to the conference room. There’s more ministry to discuss. And, hopefully more cookies to eat.