The Idea Camp – Eric Bryant Interview from The Idea Camp on Vimeo.

Usually I blog news about innovative ministry practices that are dependent on technology.  But recently, at The Idea Camp, I had the chance to interview so many Christian leaders (over a dozen) that I’ve been posting the interviews here.   Thanks for your patience.

This interview is with Eric Bryant of Mosaic.  Both he and Erwin McManus are taking an alternate route away from the popular “multi-site” road.  Rather than use video feed for the many Mosaic campuses like most muti-site congregations who use a central pastor on video, Mosaic has opted for using speakers from individual sites.  This allows many people to receive training in both sermon preparation & presentation.

Within two weeks, those of us in Southern California will get to experience a new kind of conference.

For many reasons conferences in general are becoming increasingly unpopular.  Some of the reasons conferences are loosing their momentum have been discussed previously here.  Most conferences are organized around the old broadcast model of communication.  A single (often dynamic) speaker talking to a large group of passive listeners would be typical, then breakouts based on this same model would follow.

But there are a good handful of new conference models springing up.  For example, I’ve gotten to participate in the two Church Tech Camps (Pasadena & Dallas) which were structured more like conversations with up front moderators but lots of interactive dialog and breakouts that allowed for many individuals to share ideas and insights.

The Idea Camp is similarly structured.   Philosophically open source, The Idea Camp purposefully juxtaposes ideologies, personalities and ministry styles for a diversity of dialog rather than a lecture-based structure.  I, myself, am looking forward to hearing from those I don’t necessarily agree with.

Additionally, there’s a sweeping list of moderators, many of whom use a-typical or pioneer approaches to their ministry endeavors creating a unique setting for both inspiration and the exploration of practical ministry tools.  In fact, although everything is set up open discussion style, the goal is not just talk.  Ideas to implementation would best describe the point of the gathering.

New Song Church in Irvine, California hosts The Idea Camp and it’s free to all.  (But please sign up by creating a profile on The Idea Camp site so we can see who participated!)  And, yes, there are some stellar unannounced guests coming.

Brad Abare www.thinkpersonality.com / www.churchmarketingsucks.com
Greg Atkinson www.gregatkinson.com
Tony Ferraro www.tonyferraro.com / www.360hubs.com
Mike Foster www.ethur.org
Dave Gibbons www.davegibbons.tv
Brent Gudgel www.deidox.com / www.chronicleproject.org
Todd Hiestand www.toddhiestand.com
Scott Hodge www.scotthodge.org
Mark Horvath www.invisiblepeople.tv
Penny Hunter The Revolution
Zach Hunter www.loosechangetoloosenchains
Greg Russinger www.just4one.org
Jeff Shinabarger www.jeffshinabarger.com
Cynthia Ware www.thedigitalsanctuary.org / www.digital.leadnet.org
Rich Kirkpatrick www.richkirkpatrick.com / www.tehillamusic.com
Charles Lee www.charlestlee.com
Dave Mahanes www.chronicleproject.org / www.deidox.com
Shah Afshar www.shahshankedredemption.blogspot.com
Dwight Watson www.surgance.com / www.dwightgwatson.blogspot.com
Eric Bryant www.ericbryant.org
Spencer Burke www.theooze.com
Chad Mayer www.sharefestinc.org
James Pearson www.jamestravels.com
Dan Portnoy www.portnoymediagroup.com
David Ruis www.davidruis.com
Chris Cannon www.kingsharbor.org
Dawn Carter www.decarter.wordpress.com / www.360hubs.com
Eugene Cho www.eugenecho.wordpress.com
DJ Chuang www.djchuang.com / www.digital.leadnet.org
Keith Kall www.worldvision.org
Henry Zonio www.elementalcm.com
Tony Wood www.generatelife.com
Robert Yang www.kindlejoy.com
Dawn Nicole Baldwin www.aspireone.com /
www.dawnnicolebaldwin.typepad.com

Join Rich Kirkpatrick and I for a Social Media in Ministry breakout to share implementable ideas.

Although I only got to go for 1 day, causing me to miss a couple of the speakers I had hoped to hear, I had a great time at the Awaken 2008 Conference put on by Mosaic in Pasadena.  Erwin McManus did the hosting and I did get to hear an evangelism panel discussion with Lee Strobel, Mark Mittleberg, Rick McKinley, Dan Kimball and Eric Michael Bryant.

And speaking of Eric, he was kind enough to get me in at the last minute unexpectedly and he made sure my registration was covered because I could only be there for the day.  And he reminded me that he's  making a special offer at his website on his book Peppermint-Filled Pinatas – if you buy a case, he'll give you a case free!  You can find my interview with Eric about the book here.

I was also able to visit a couple of booths.  I got to talk to the Sermon Spice folks whose beautiful media resources you've read about here.  I also got to meet the founder of a prayer application called Kindle Joy.  I hope to look into this product further and if you've used Kindle Joy let me know.

I also got to share time with Mynhardt & Lisha Van Pletsen who were wonderful to connect with.  Timely, too, as they only have months left in the US before returning to South Africa.  More on the launch of their the bread & wine.org soon, I promise.

By the way, Dan Kimball – who I practically ran into jumping out of a PT Cruiser (I know, so appropriate) – wrote a good Awaken wrap up here with a photo of wired DJ Chuang in all his orange-ness.  My wrap up can't complete with his and neither can my iPhone photo of DJ.

Erwin McManus & the red sofa

  Mark Batterson out of the pit & onto the big screen

  Me, Mynhardt Van Pletsen, DJ Chaung, Lisha Van Pletsen