Home Archive by category "Conferences" (Page 11)

Category: Conferences

Off to Yosemite Summit

Just letting y’all know, that from this Saturday night through next Thursday I will be COMPLETELY off line. No e-mail, no cell phone, no facebook, no twitter, no nothing electronic, except worship music on my iPod shuffle and my Sony Alpha 350 digital camera enjoying Yosemite Summit with several other guys. Many people joke that going offline must be ‘torture’ for me, and they forget I created this event. This may come as a shock to some, but while I very much ENJOY ministry and serving others and am comfortable ‘in the spotlight’ I do not crave it, I am, in fact, an introvert and crave being alone and feed off being disconnected and long for times like this. So, fear not, I’ll be back, for it is my Calling from God – but I’m very much going to enjoy the next few days and will not be bothered a bit that my inbox, voicemail, and snail mail box will be piling up while I am away. I appreciate your patience while I recharge! PS: I’m also testing mobile blogging from my iPad here, lets hope this worked! [Posted with iBlogger from my iPad]

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Built in Pitstop

Is life crazy busy for you? Have you tried to get it in balance and failed? Have you strived for margin and seen it fill up over and over with church and other stuff and fought to get it out again? Have you wondered, “Can I ever win this battle to get control of my life?!” Me too. But at least something is different now. I have a built in pit stop in my life, called Yosemite Summit. Every May, me and eight other children’s pastors (or ministry leaders) go to Yosemite National Park for a complete break-away from ministry to just fellowship with each other and focus on our relationship with God and our  relationships with our wives and kids. And nothing else. and… We WALK AWAY FROM IT ALL. I’ve had to accept that while I will always be working on it, I will never master getting my daily life or week under control. There is just too much to do all the time. But at least I can look forward to once a year, every year, when I walk away from it all for four glorious days when I just enjoy God’s incredible creation in THE most…

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Come to Canada! Be a KidBuilder!

I’m excited to be heading to Canada in May for the Kid Builders children’s ministry conference in Ontario. It is looking to be a wonderful gathering of practical trainers bringing a wide variety hands-on skills for leaders and volunteers who are in the trends of ministry to children. If you are one of the many who have e-mailed us asking when the next Kid U is, this will have the feel of a Kidology University in the quality of speakers and desire to provide real help to children’s workers. I’m honored to be a part of this event. (Download Fullsized Poster Here with COMPLETE DETAILS 3mb) Here is how I will be serving: Friday Evening, May 7th – Family event, open to the public! Come experience the humor, comedy and story telling of Karl Bastian live! Lions and Bears and Fire, OH MY! (The Power of Story why TODAY is the Best Day of Your Life!) Saturday Morning, May 8th, General Session – Kidology 101 – Shooting Straws and Other HIgh Tech Ministry Techniques! Saturday Afternoon, General Session – YOU! The Missing Piece in a Children’s Spiritual Puzzle Saturday Eventing (Leaders Only) – Putting the “Pastor” Back into your Job…

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Why I am returning to Yosemite – by Pat

Guest Blogger, Patrick McWhorter Why go back to Yosemite? I prayed about the opportunity and tossed it around for a while. Would this year match the experience I had last year? Would it be better? Would it not be as good? There were so many reasons to go back and really no reason to not go. The number one reason to go back – I know that I need the time away. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong. But throughout the year, the emotional stress can wear you out. The “normal” people issues that come up can wear on your soul, especially when the people are not just bodies in the congregation but are your friends, your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ. I know that I need the time away to leave the work of ministry behind, to leave the daily tasks behind, and to focus on ultimately what is most important, my own personal relationship with Christ. Words cannot describe the feeling you have when you are 8,000+ feet up, looking over God’s awesome creation and it is just you, Him and His Word. God revealed things to me during the week at Yosemite…

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CPC 2010 is Over

I’m always bummed when CPC is over. I’ve lost track of how many IN A ROW I’ve been to – but it’s over 30! Since 1995 I’ve not missed a single CPC at any location! So that’s at least 30, but for awhile there, they had 3 a year so its well over 30! It doesn’t matter whether I’m speaking, exhibiting or “just” attending, I’m there. CPC is THE place to be. Don’t get me wrong – there are a LOT of other great conferences. I’m not knocking any of them! Go to them if you can. Each had a unique focus and purpose and I like the intimacy of small conferences. Some I still want to get to and have been unable to. But I don’t skip CPC to go to them. I go to them only if I can go in addition to CPC. But I’ll leave it at that, if you want all the reasons I attend CPC, read this post. It was a great conference, and I’ll be posting more pictures in the weeks ahead, but tonight I just want to post the funnest moment. (Yes, I know that ‘funnest’ isn’t a word, but my parents…

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