Just Finished up the Sticks Conference at New Hope Community Church in Loudonville, OH. Without question, this is probably the best conference I have been to in years. This year I attended three conferences: the Exponential Conference in Orlando, the invitation only Conference at Saddleback Church, and The Sticks.  Charles Hill and his crew put on an awesome conference. Yeah, they had some big name guys like Mark Batterson, Tim Stevens and Shannon O’Dell, but it was the most biblical and contextual time I have spent at an event.

The Sticks Conference was specifically designed for churches in small or medium sized towns – thus the Sticks. There were pastors and leaders there from towns of 100 to 35,000. We took a team of five from Bridge Church and everyone agreed that it was very beneficial for our leadership team. All the speakers were fanastic, but the guys today brought it big time and it was convicting.

Tim Stevens, Exec Pastor, author and otherwise pretty cool guy, gave a challenging general session talk on the biggest contributors to growth. First, Keep Changing stuff up. Second, Tackle alignment issues – it’s easy when you have everyone on the same page going the same way, but when you have that one person who  is off kilter, it will challenge your leadership. Thirdly, Make it easy for people to serve. Fourth, Say thanks as often as you can. Last of all, Stick with it, don’t give up.

Shannon O’Dell is a fellow SBC dude who is shaking up the hills of Arkansas. Shannon had a cool shirt on today, not that it makes any difference. Shannon shared on the six most difficult decisions of a rural pastor.
1. Your church structure
2. Get rid of bad staff (which could include volunteers)
3. Protect your family
4. Make sure you are called to rural ministry
5. Dedicate yourself to a red-hot marriage
6. You have to be willing to be hated.

Dwight Mason pastors a couple or hours from where we are and has been at the church for twenty-four years. His focus was nothing happens without leadership. He challenged us  to examine our call, to have character, make sure we have clarity and you better have courage. The man was smoking! He challenged everyone to look at one of these four areas and publicly repent of the one that we struggle with. Wow!

Has got us thinking… Are we dreaming too small?

I hope to take about 10-15 people with us next year. Great conference guys – Thanks!