This is a continuation of the last post about the Innovate conference at GCC in Granger, IN.

Things that I was inspired by...

Granger's whole staff was tied together with a real sense of team. It wasn't just a polished finish that they were putting on for those at the conference. You could tell it was something that they really believe in. The inspiring part was that the team was the whole church. It wasn't just the middles school ministry or single ministry or college, being separated out as their own group, they were all GCC.

The ability to reach middle school students depends on the reach of the rest of the church. I was inspired by this selfless devotion to the big picture. While we have lots of responsibilities, if we miss the big picture of MBC our ability to effectively reach these students is reduced.

We are working on ideas to get the middle school ministry involved in the big picture of MBC. Service projects that tie into the sermon series on sunday mornings, areas of Volunteerism that students can be involved (Fall fest), etc... what are some ideas that you have?

I was on vacation in Colorado, visiting my parents, which was incredibly refreshing apart from the chap lips. Then I got on a plane and headed to South Bend, IN for the Innovate '07 conference at Granger Community Church, GCC. It was an incredible experience, which made me spend some time letting it sink in. I remember Al Newell saying that the more you revisit something the more your really learn it.

Mark Bricker asked me to share this morning, as a part of our ed staff meeting, some things that I had learned, was inspired by, challenged by, or encouraged by. I missed the or and really had a lot to share. I'm going to sum it up in the next 4 blog posts, so maybe we can let it sink in together.

I start with one of the the best things that I learned... Creating Culture.

After being at Mcgregor for over a year now, I've learned a lot about the culture. This is a different church than anywhere in the United States. We are extremely diverse (as SBC churches go) and have a very unique culture.

Some observations about Culture:
1. When you get close to people you tend to start talking like them.
2. When you spend more time close to the same people there is even new words "somewhat of a new language" (stuff people from the outside might not understand)
3. It creates a feeling of togetherness and being a part. (hey that is why we have terms like "red-necks" and "city-slickers")

This is something that we need to be intentional about while we are starting our middle school ministry. Creating a middle school ministry culture. We all need to be contributors to this. So maybe instead of calling our crazy games "crazy games", we need to call them "flambastic", or instead of calling our events "events" we should call them "sizzle". These are just suggestions, and I know that Gerald is already making fun of me. But let's get close, invest and be a part and create culture that will last long past us...

leave comments and your own suggestions..