Next?

I have come to believe one of the most important lessons we learn in life is that we don't know everything.  In fact, the older I get, the more I learn, the less I actually know!  The Bible says in the Book of Ecclesiastes, "There's nothing new under the sun".  That leads me to believe that no matter what I can think of, someone else has already thought of it.  

I struggled for years with the belief that if I didn't personally think up something, it wasn't worth doing, because it wasn't original.  I love what Ron Sylvia, pastor of Church at the Springs said at the NEXT Conference in January, "You hear some people say, 'I'm going to be original, or nothing'. They usually end up being both"!  

What a great observation.  And I have embraced the concept COMPLETELY!  I want INPUT from other people!  All the time.  Is there any better source of information than to get it from someone older and wiser, who has already traveled the road you are going down?  That's what I appreciate so much about my Church Planting Coach, Hal Mayer.  He's so much older than me. Okay..he's a great deal wiser, too.  

So I get an email from the NEXT Initiative.  And it proposes to help new pastors save money by eliminating the need to travel to a network meeting in person.  They're going to do it via teleconference.  OH NO!!  Guys, making the sacrifice to get to Ocala once a month for our coaching network meeting - to be mildly abused by Hal Mayer - is one of the BEST things that ever happened to me AND our church!  

Hal Mayer says, "Hey Pastors, you've got to have some skin in the game if you want other people to buy into your vision!"  Come on NEXT, the skin isn't just the money, the travel, the hassle, the expense.  The skin is the day-long experience of seeing beads of sweat on the foreheads of a room full of guys - just like you -  that have traded everything in life to be Purpose Driven!  It's PRICELESS!  

Here's to meeting face-to-face!