The "Unleash" Conference at NewSpring Church

John Bunn and I had the opportunity to head south this past week to take in the "Unleash" conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. We had an amazing time on the trip!

When we arrived at NewSpring Church... we were greeted by at least 200 volunteers in the parking lot (from the car all the way to the front door). Every one of those 200 volunteers smiled and greeted us as we approached the building. When we got out of the car, we were asked, "Where are you folks from?". We told them that we had traveled from Dover, Ohio. They all cheered and made a big fuss over us... and then one of the guys called to someone on a "walkie" to let them know that "Ohio had arrived!" Well... as we got closer to the building, we could here the crowd of volunteers cheering, "Welcome, Ohio!" "We're glad you're here!" WOW! What an amazing "first impression! Not only did they make you feel important... they gave you a sense of anticipation about the rest of the NewSpring experience.

And that was just the parking lot experience.

The remainder of the day, we encountered over 500 volunteers who had taken their vacation time to be there for the conference. UNBELIEVABLE! Everywhere you turned... there was a smiling face to answer your questions and point you in the right direction.

There were over 3300 people attending the conference. The event was sold out and they even had to open up their student ministries auditorium for an overflow. There was a LIVE band in that venue as well... and then they had Perry in HD video for the main sessions. Pretty slick... huh?






The worship was really LOUD... just the way God intended for it to be. They used almost all original music (Written by their worship leader, Lee McDerment)... which was cool... and it sounded amazing... but not many people could really sing along. It was still an incredible worship experience though (You don't have to know the words to the songs to worship).






NewSpring's senior pastor, Perry Noble was the speaker in both of the main sessions. If you are not familiar with Perry... you should look him up online and listen to some of his teaching. The guy brings the truth. He has a unique delivery that (most believe) only Perry can get away with. For instance... here are a few of the scuds that he fired in the 2 main sessions:

• We can’t lead publicly if we aren’t yielded to God privately.
• Do people leave your services saying, “That was a great service.”? Or does God say, “Wow that was a great service.”?
• Satan doesn’t want to split your church—he wants to spilt your staff.
• God most often puts his most powerful gift in his weakest vessels.
• It’s not a bad thing when people leave your church.
• You don’t need to close the back door to the church. The church is a body. If you close the back door to your body… (well... you know). Sometimes an enema is the best thing that could happen to a church.
• People can say what they want about your church but no one can deny the presence of God.
• We don’t want to build a monument and become a museum. We want to continue to be a movement.
• Without Him, we suck…and you do too.
• ABOUT THEIR MUSIC: Yes it’s loud and we like it that way. Some of our senior citizens bring and wear their own earplugs.
• If God tells you to say “balls” in church then say it. Everybody will love it…well, the men will love it. The women who buy their sweaters at Cracker Barrel will hate it.
• Know who sets the rules for me and my family? ME. If you don’t do it someone else will and it will kill you.
• I believe there’s been a major breakdown in communication between the church and Jesus.
• The communication breakdown is this: instead of asking Jesus to build HIS church, we’ve been asking him to build OUR church.
• If you think you’re perfect and your poop don’t stink, God can’t use you.
• I believe that every church in America is one or two changes away from doubling in size.
• Every denomination in America for the past 30 years has been declining. If that was you’re money you’d be doing something about it.
• You will never be comfortable hearing the voice of God if you’re not comfortable with change.
• When’s the last time you went and bought an organ music CD and played it in your car? (So why do churches have organs?)
• Everybody here can look at another church and call the change that church needs to make….but can you do it for your own church?
• How many of you would be willing to give your life for your kids/grandkids to come to know Christ? Okay….how many would be willing to give up your style of music to save your kids/grandkids? (Ouch!)
  
• If what’s going on in your church is manageable then God’s not there. You can’t manage a move of God.
• I’ve always thought it was weird that people plan revivals.
• Don’t ever let the money drive the decision. Let the voice of God drive the decision.
• If it’s God’s will... then it’s God’s bill.
• Pastor, your job when it comes to youth ministry: make sure they have enough money.
• Why do so many teenagers show up to our church? We spend money on them.
• We’ve got to get out of the business of competing with one another (other churches) and instead start completing one another.
• When you pay attention to a jackass, you can’t cast vision.
• The jackass in the church is the person who always screams, “I want to go deeper.”
• You’re only as deep as the last person you served.
• You wanna go deep? Let’s check your giving record and see how deep you really are.
• The people who say, “Y’all are just into numbers,” are the people who have no numbers.
• The reason I’m obsessed with numbers is because I was one of those numbers.

I'll stop there... but there were so many more. Great stuff! Perry just "tells it like it is". He will tell you that he just says it... the way God tells him to say it. WOW! What a day! I also took in a couple of breakout session. One on Service Programming and another on Launching a New Campus From Scratch (Because we are launching a NewPointe campus in Canton, Ohio this fall). It was a great conference... and John and I came back with tools to help us improve what we are doing here at NewPointe... and also to help us grow individually in our relationship with Christ.