Who has a busy schedule out there? Anyone? So who has time to pack up your bags and spend a few days being refreshed, encouraged and further equipped to do God’s good work? We all do! And we all can certainly benefit from a good conference or two throughout the year.
So this past week, I grabbed my Apple gear and skinny jeans and boarded a plane for sunny central Florida to spend a few days at the Experience Conference. Now, while I am no stranger to good conferences as I have been to Passion, Catalyst, Willow’s Leadership Summit, National Youth Workers Convention and few others, this was my first conference that was specifically targeted toward worship leaders and boy was it a good one!
Background: The Experience Conference began in 2011 with the desire to inspire, refresh, equip and encourage those in worship ministry. It is held each year in early September at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Thats right, while you are being poured into all week, you are also rubbing elbows with Mickey and his crew. The conference this year ran from the evening of Tuesday, September 2 through Friday morning the 5 and included three nights of worship, six general session and more than 70 workshops.
Speakers:
Robert Morris, Senior Pastor of Gateway Church
James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel
Todd Wagner, Pastor of Watermark Community Church
Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong Church.
Thats a pretty good podcast line up of you ask me…They were each insightful and challenging in their own unique ways and they all brought a high level of excellence in their respective talks.
Artists:
Experience Conference House Band
I don’t know about you but, that could easily make up one of my iTunes Radio stations. To worship with the teams that God has used to give such moving and captivating songs to the church was outstanding. It was such a joy to sing songs like O The Blood and Revelation Song with Gateway worship. Then to sing Open Up the Heavens and The Rock Won’t Move with Vertical Church was truly inspiring. Not to mention the entire setlist of Hillsong United! So strong, so good and that was just the half of it! Then comes Jesus Culture, Israel Houston and New Breed and a real up-and-comer by the name of Chris Tomlin.
As worship leaders we spend so much time, effort and energy crafting times of congregational worship. And we do this week in and week out so that the people God has entrusted us to lead are able to see a clearer picture of who God is and then better articulate their affection for him. Doing this should then give us all a greater appreciation for the moments we get to worship under the leadership of such talented and gifted worshipers. What’s more, part of what made the Experience Conference unique was that you were able to experience the various styles (all of which work extremely well) of each of the worship artists and see how they differ from the others. Lesson learned? Lead the way God has shaped you but, do it with the highest level of excellence possible.
Workshops: There were simply too many great workshops to cover or even attend but, suffice it to say that if you work in worship ministry, there was always something offered in each workshop slot targeted at one of your interests. Personally, I caught up with Bart Millard to hear about the next generation of worship leaders. I learned some intentional worship leading techniques with Tim Timmons while also being inspired to lead authentic worship for teenagers with Phil Joel. Not to mention the great technical training offered Will Doggett of multitracks.com as well as Aaron Stewart from Planning Center Online. Needless to say, I’ll be processing my notes for several weeks.
Cost: $229-$400+ Finally, if you have anyone on your staff who’s job is highly concerned with numbers, you might be wondering what a package like this will cost your church. Like most conferences, Experience Conference had a tiered price schedule based on when you sign up and how many you bring with you. They also offer significantly discounted rates at both the Disney Contemporary Resort and the Disney Grand Floridian.
It is hard to sum up the entire conference experience in just a few words but, the heart of the conference really was to see God move in and through lives and that’s exactly what was weaved in and out of all of the elements of the Experience Conference. The personalities were excellent, the steering committee was intentional, the workshop were insightful and the hospitality was…magical. So if you are making conference plans for 2015, give the Experience Conference serious consideration and maybe we can put together a Church Collective meet up! Magic Kingdom anyone?!?!