I’m on my way back home after a great conference. It was truly a blessing to be here at Unplugged over the last two days. I dreamed much and learned even more. Definitely a big win! Over the coming weeks as I process the conference I’ll post my thoughts here.
I wish everyone a great weekend. I’m on the road again starting… tomorrow(!!!!) so continue to keep me in your prayers.
Blessings to you and yours.
Felker
Unplugged Day 1 is in the books. Registration began at 9am this morning and we wrapped up with dinner on the national mall at around 6pm. What a day it was!!!
There are only about 50 ministers here for the conference which has made for a very personal and informal (in a good way) meeting. I have never been to a conference where we all went around the room and introduced ourselves. Definitely a new experience for me.
Mark began by telling us his prayer for Unplugged. First, he prayed that there would be some divine connections made between us. Without doubt I had some great introductions and some divine conversations today.
Secondly, Mark prayed for some paradigm shifts to happen. Not sure I experienced any shifts today but I did get plenty of clarity. I think that being able to see your paradigms clearly can cause you to shift a little.
And finally, Mark prayed that we would walk away from the conference with some God ideas. I do believe that “1 God Idea is better than 1000 good ideas.” No doubt.
The focus of the conference is to look at The 5 Greatest Challenges That Leaders Face. We looked at the first 3 today:
The Motivation Challenge
The Vision Challenge
The Personal Challenge
I am excited to see what tomorrow holds.
I’m making my way to the nation’s capital for the Unplugged Conference today.
I am so stoked. The conference should be a very intimate and challenging two days of conversations and dreaming. I’m looking forward to hearing from Mark Batterson and Jud Wilhite and I’m looking forward to a cup of Ebenezers in the morning.
I’ll be staying with my bro-in-law and will take the metro into Union Station each day. I like taking mass transit too bad there is no subway in my little town here at home.
I’ll post my thoughts and experiences each night. You can also follow me on Twitter. Keep me in your prayers for safe travel, rest, and growth. Thanks.
Peace,
Felker
I ordered a book from Amazon yesterday and when I completed my order I was offered the opportunity to “upgrade” my purchase to allow for online reading of the book. This would allow me to begin reading the book immediately and allowed for searching inside the entire book and even allowed me to print. The cost: an extra 5 bucks. No big deal right? Well, hang on.
Why is there a fee involved? I ordered the book from Amazon. Couldn’t they just allow me free online access to the book I just bought. Why add the 5 bucks? Wouldn’t it make more sense to give away the digital copy than to charge extra for something I’m getting in a few days anyway. There’s not publishing costs, no shipping costs, zero overhead. It just doesn’t make sense.
It turns out that I have previously purchased 6 books that are available for online access. The prices range from $1.49 to $7.20. There is no set price for upgrading either. What’s that about?
Crossway Publishers gives away the digital copy of books you purchase through them. Like Amazon they are completely searchable. You can print and copy just like Amazon. Crossway books are available for immediate download once you purchase the physical copy.
So if a small publishing group can give away the digital copy why can’t mighty Amazon? I’m just asking.
I had the opportunity to preach yesterday and so I picked a pretty bold topic to speak on. I chose Marriage. I’ve spoken on Leadership and Vision. I did a series on Starbucks and the Church. I’ve even tackled dangerous emotions like jealousy and anger. But I wanted to stretch myself yesterday and felt very good about the message I was able to share with our church.
It felt a little tricky speaking on marriage because I don’t have all the answers. I’m only 28 and we’ve only been married 7 years. We don’t have kids or teens. We’ve suffered little turmoil. Despite this I felt a strong push to speak about making our marriages a priority.
What I felt I really accomplished yesterday was to get couples talking. God was definitely present yesterday and I pray that he will be glorified in the lives of our marriages from here on out.
My message was taped yesterday so hopefully I’ll get a copy of it. If you’re interested I send you a copy if they come out alright. Just let me know in the comments section. Thanks.
Had the chance to play some golf today with one of my teens and with another minister and one of his teens. It was such a great day. At one point the wind picked up to hurricane gail force winds and the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees. It was quite a challenge hitting into that wind!
The teen I was with hit his first two birdies ever. He did such a great job! I, on the other hand, ended better than usual having only lost 4 balls all day. Maybe I’m getting better. Maybe.
There is nothing better than just hanging out, hitting the ball around, and enjoying some great conversation. Good day all around.
During the flows and the ebbs (of life), however, I remember that the most fulfilling byproduct of a life of prayer is not the satisfaction of checking off a daily to-do- perfect attendance in your prayer closet doesn’t always equal deep fulfillment. The most fulfilling byproduct is also not receiving miraculous answers to the actual prayers, although these are wonderful when they occur. What I have discovered along the path of prayer-life cultivation is that the greatest thrill to a prayer is the qualitative difference made in one’s relationship with God. — Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels
What a great truth!!! I am totally lovin’ working through this classic. If I typed out all the passages that have hit me square in the face I would be violating some major copyright laws!
If you get a chance pick this book up this summer. It is a much more compelling beach read than anything else out there. Definitely check it out.
Work Camp 2008 is in the books!
We had a great week painting and fixing houses. The weather cooperated with us this year. No running from storms like we did last year. The temperatures were mild and we didn’t No one got hurt and for the first time in a long time our teens got some press coverage for heir hard work.
I have been doing work camps since 1994 first as a camper then as an intern and now as a leader. The way that this WC was organized I led a group of teens none of which are in my youth group. It gives me a great opportunity to mentor and work with teens that I haven’t had contact with and it gives my teens the chance to connect with other adult leaders from around the city.
I am headed back over to our house today to pick up some supplies and to do a small amount of touch ups. I have been doing a lot of repairs around our house so I’m becoming quite the amateur handy man. We’ll see if I can replace the outdoor water faucet at our Work Camp house today. It is feeling like a big maybe.
Have a great day everyone!
Since I started blogging back in 2004, I have never gone more than a few days without posting at least something each week. That is until last week.
Last week was my last week of (relative) freedom before the beast that is summer had a chance to take over my life. I left my computer wherever. I failed to return emails. I kinda checked out of cyberspace.
It Begins…
Summer began for me in earnest today. We began Work Camp early this morning and that will last until Wednesday night. We have about 200 teenagers representing about 10 churches painting houses and cleaning yards in the Arlington area this week. I love the idea of teens and adults spending their first week of summer paying to paint other people’s houses in the hot, hot sun. What a great week! Bonus today as a cool front moved in at the end of the work day. Hopefully, we can continue to have mild and clear weather for the remainder of the week.
Summer Staples
I picked up a one volume copy of all of the C.S. Lewis Signature Classics to read through this summer. I have read some (Mere Christianity, Screwtape, The Great Divorce) and there are a few that I have not read (Problem of Pain, Miracles, A Grief Observed). I had already planned on reading through Miracles and Screwtape this summer but then I thought it might be fun to try and read through all of these master works over the next three months. I never tire of reading through Lewis. I get overwhelmed sometimes but never tired.
I Shall Retire to the Nerdery
Another of my summer plans is to decorate my office. Those of you who know me know I love movies and music and animation. What you may not know is that I love comics too. I’m not a total geek but there is just something in me that connects to mythology, storytelling, and folklore . What better place to find those elements than in the comic book heroes that I know and love? So in an effort to find some interesting pieces of wall art I headed down to the closest comic book shop to pull some issues with cool covers. I found what I was looking for but I also got sucked in to a new storyline from my favorite hero, Batman. At the end of this new series RIP… (dum, dum, daaaaaaaaaah) Bruce Wayne will no longer be Batman. Whaaaaaaaaaa? Sounds pretty cool to me. I’ve cross another line toward total geek-out.
I hope everyone has a great week. I’ll talk to you again soon.
