I have been a little tied up and weekends and have not done my "Saturday is for Seminars." I will try to get back into the swing of doing so.

Thanks again for those of you who pray for me while I am on the road.

Here is where I am now and/or will be going soon:

Ridgecrest, NC
Right now, and for the next 16 hours, I am in beautiful Western North Carolina at Ridgecrest Conference Center. I preached last night and will do so again in about 4 hours at the Sunday School Weekend/Week at Ridgecrest in Ridgecrest, NC.

Glorieta, NM
I'll be doing this again at Glorieta, NM later this month. But, I get to have my family with me in Glorieta, so that makes it even better.

Originally, my family was going with me to Ridgecrest. We love the camp and kids programs each year. However, the folks at B&H Publishing asked me to make a change to respond to a request from the International Christian Retail show... which is where I am heading early tomorrow.

The International Christian Retail Show
Early tomorrow, I fly to Denver for the International Christian Retail Show, Christian Booksellers Association on July 12th. (Is Colorado close to North Carolina?) I went last year and had a little too much fun with Twitter, so I have to be on my best behavior this year.

The folks at ICRS have asked me to speak on church and culture research in the Sunday afternoon main session. It's also good to meet new and old friends and talk to people about the research we do at LifeWay Research. I will also be doing a book signing Monday morning, so if you are there-- drop on by and say hello.

Looking Ahead
On Nov. 10-12, 2009 I'll be speaking at the Great Commission Research Network which is planning a joint meeting with the Society for Church Consulting Summit 2009. This is a big three-day conference (or two conferences in one location) that will go down at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Here's some info from the website.

Conferences At a Glance

Nov. 10: Church Consulting Summit 2009
The first day of this historic joint event is the Society's inaugural summit. This year's theme, "Battling Ministry Giants," will feature a practical array of workshops, case studies, and discussions led by SCC board members and sponsors. Topics include conflict management, church visioning, conducting community research, and many more practical areas of church consulting.

Nov. 11-12: GCRN's Annual Conference
The second conference is focused on how churches can reach out in times of calamity and recession. GCRN (formerly the American Society for Church Growth) will present topics like:

• Transformational Churches: Who They Are and How They Do It - Ed Stetzer
• An old Strategy Revisited: Prayer Ministry in Times of Crisis - Chuck Lawless
• Building Bridges of God During Calamity - Gary McIntosh
• Future Trends in Church Consulting - Tom Harper

Joint Conference Schedule

Day One (Tue., Nov. 10) - Society for Church Consulting

• Case study breakouts
• Expert panel discussion
• Practical workshops
• Exhibit area
• Member meeting
• Networking receptions

Days Two and Three (Wed. & Thur., Nov. 11-12) - Great Commission Research Network

• Lectures
• Research presentations
• Exhibit area (same for both conferences)
• Bus tour of local churches damaged by Katrina
• The prestigious Donald McGavran Award
• President's banquet

You can download the brochure here, and register here.

New Orleans

While I am at New Orleans, I will be planning a "Tweet-up" with friends (and potential new ones). My friend Steve Lemke, has promised to buy me lunch and, if I time it correctly, I am pretty sure I can get him to come to his first-ever TweetUp.

Watch Twitter and the blog for more details.

Hope to see you on the road!

I have a lot to share with you about upcoming seminars and conferences. Dates, places topics - and even a way to save you some money!

March 15, 2009
After services tomorrow, I'm speaking to the Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA) campus ministry students who are coming up to Nashville for church in the morning. Should be good.
-----------------------------------

March 17, 2009
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Spring 2009 LifeWay Conference (Wake Forest, NC)

Thom Rainer and I have switched chapel days so you might be surprised to see me there on Tuesday and Thom will be there on Wednesday.
-----------------------------------

March 19, 2009
Protestant Church Owned Publishing Association Spring Conference I will be speaking on "Protestant Pastor's Today" at the annual meeting in Nashville, TN.
-----------------------------------

March 23-27, 2009
Starting next Monday I will be teaching for a D.Min. class on "Entering the Missional Conversation" at Biblical Seminary (Hatfield, PA)
-----------------------------------

I have mentioned the Exponential Conference before. While I am there we are planning a special dinner on Monday night. Here are the details:

Dinner and Dialog with Hirsch and Stetzer (April 20)
Let me give you a "heads up" about a couple events in the Orlando area in April around the Exponential Conference.

What if Alan Hirsch and I were starting a church together?
What would it look like?
What strategic considerations would we talk about?

Here's the blurb:

On Monday, April 20, at 6:30 pm in Orlando The Upstream Collective along with Christian Associates International will host Alan and Ed, who are among today's leading missional thinkers and church planters. Join them in a conversation about what church planting could look like in North America, what values a church planting team might espouse, what attractional and/or missional elements it might employ and more.

We have a limited amount of seats available. Tickets are 10.00 at the door and that helps cover the cost of the dinner that will be hosted by Houseblend Café in Orlando.

If you want to reserve your spot go to www.theupstreamcollective.org to sign up.

Also on Wednesday, April 22, at 6:30 pm The Upstream Collective will hosting a dinner with Derek Webster, a church planting strategist for Scandinavia. He will talk about some unique opportunities for North American churches to get involved in what God is doing in Scandinavia. You might be surprised to hear about the ways your church could be a perfect fit for this region of the world!

You can sign up for either or both of these upcoming dinner events online at www.theupstreamcollective.org until April 12.

May 12-13, 2009
And, if you are pastoring in a small town, you might want to check out "The Sticks," a conference for pastors and leaders in small towns. Their early bird registration is about to end. I will be at the SE regional conference along with Perry Noble, Tony Morgan, Gary Lamb, etc.

This is only the second of my "Saturday is for Seminars," a new weekly feature about upcoming seminars, conferences, and events.

The picture does not really have much to do with these two conferences, but I thought the backdrop was pretty amazing so I decided to include it anyway. It is from the Dwell Conference, hosted by Tim Keller in Manhattan (you can download the audio of that conference here).

Next week on the road:

I have greatly enjoyed the December-January break from travel. It has been a great time of refreshing with my wife and children. If you follow on Twitter or Facebook, you have heard much about my family, friends, and my new habit of exercise.

The break turned out to last longer than I expected. I had planned to speak at the Nazarene National Pastors Conference but the meeting was canceled due to the economy. I am hoping we can reschedule because I was excited about my time with the pastors of the Church of the Nazarene.

Last week, I had the chance to serve the chaplains serving the U.S. Coast Guard.

I have written in the past about my preparation for this speaking engagement.

The Coast Guard news explained the event:

I spoke at the Campus Church tonight... and hopefully made much of God's mission, reconciliation, and the cross. It's late and I am tired, but Liberty is not what I remembered. Tonight was 5000 students in God centered worship, some dancing, many on their faces, and all there voluntarily. All good-- just not what I expected. More soon, including updates on my meetings tomorrow to help Liberty plant 500 new churches in the next 5 years.

Update:

Now that I am bit rested and am sitting in the airport, let me share some more.

I graduated there from Liberty in 1995 (an eternity ago!). The school was doing well, but nothing like it is today. I was impressed with several things:

1. The students.

What an amazing collection of students. After I spoke, I had students say hello from all over the country. I even made a side comment about Mongolia-- and there was actaully a student from Mongolia who said hello. Amazing diversity. And, I was impressed with their commitment to Christ and passion for His mission.

2. The worship.

Honestly, I was surprised by the worship service. It was powerful and moving and much more contemporary then I expected (in other words, more what I was used to). Ergun Caner mocked me for being surprised, but he did not know what it was like when I was here over a decade ago! Grin.

It was great-- not cliché driven pep rally worship, but God-centered passionate praise. Ergun says he has the best job in the world and I can see why.

3. The plan.

We met this afternoon with Jonathan Falwell and about 15 others to talk about how Liberty and Thomas Road could help facilitate 500 church plants in the next 5 years. I think they have some traction there. Expect to hear more in the future from them on the subject. I think they have some great ideas and look forward to seeing them developed.

4. The campus.

If you have not been to Liberty lately, you should take a look-- it is quite an impressive facility, and growing every day.

A good day... and now time to go home and see my wife and daughters!