I am at the annual conference of the American Society for Church Growth at Biola University.

I have been visiting with friends and listening to a couple of seminars.

George Hunter, Art McFee, and I ended up on the same flight. I offered to drive them to the meeting and George bought lunch. We had a good time talking about books and projects, past and future.

George wrote The Celtic Way of Evangelism and a bunch of other books. Art wrote Friendship Evangelism before other people put those words together (and has written several other books as well).

Tonight we had an Executive Committee meeting with George Hunter, Chip Arn, Elmer Towns, Gary McIntosh, and several others. These men have written so many of the books that adorn my shelves, it is intimidating to serve with them. But, they have a great love for the church and a passion to reach the lost.

This year's theme is "Church Growth and the Real World: Leadership Successes, Failures, and the Future." I'll be leading a session on "Leadership Lessons from Comeback Churches" on Friday.

Other speakers include:

Bob Whitesel: "From the Verge of Failure ... to England's Largest Church"
Peter Burch: "Disconnect - Real and Assumed Reasons Why They Do Not Attend"
Charles Arn: "The Legacy of Win Arn"
Carl George: "Leadership as a Church Growth Principle"
Eddie Gibbs: "Changing Perspectives on Leadership During Four Decades"
Elmer Towns: "The Church Growth Principles of Jerry Falwell"
George Hunter: "What Kind of Local Church Reaches Pre-Christian People?"
Art McPhee: "Pickett and McGavran: The Untold Story Behind Church Growth"
Erich Baumgartner: "Developing Leaders for Church Growth"
Bob Logan: "Grassroots Leadership Development"

For more information on the conference, check out the brochure (front and back) and the schedule.

Most fascinating moment today:

Bob Logan shared that God is leading him in a new direction, to focus more on planting organic incarnational communities with a multicultural focus. I wrote the foreword to Bob's newest book, Be Fruitful and Multiply, and could see his developing direction there.

I believe that Bob is the most influential leader in church planting for the last 50 years-- to see him move in an organic church direction is a big deal, and perhaps a hint of the future direction of church planting in the U.S. in years to come.

More reflections tomorrow...