Post-Summit reflections

What I liked about the Summit: Stories – lots of them! Stories about what is happening in a AIDs- and poverty-stricken township in South Africa, the inner city of Detroit. Lots of stories. Diversity – This may be one of the first conferences I’ve attended that wasn’t dominated by white men. Hurray! Justice – The mainstream evangelical church is discovering justice. These quotes hit home to me: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King Jr.). Or this: “If a church is surrounded by poverty, it has to do something about that poverty” (Mosa Sono). Almost half of the speakers spoke on issues of justice rather than business. Southwest – If you’re going to learn from business, you may as well learn from one that loves people and hates being a corporation. Listening to Colleen Barrett was a treat. Hybels getting ribbed – Hybels took a lot of good-natured abuse. That was fun, really fun. Nice to see him not being taken too seriously. Authenticity – Maybe it was just me but everything seemed a lot more real this year. The people on stage (including the music teams) weren’t preened and perfect. 50% less hype – very welcome. At this risk of complaining, here is some of what I didn’t like: Wifi – would it kill you to allow us to blog while we’re there? We should have picked the Stoney Creek site – kudos to them for providing wifi. Parking lot attendants – They have power issues. Or else I do. Either way we didn’t get along. Money – At a minimum of $169 a head it’s too expensive. Decentralize the simulcast sights so that any church with a dish can pay a nominal fee to watch it. 53,000 people at $169 a head = $9 million dollars. Bet they could do it for half that. Finally a suggestion to the Willow Creek Association: Do a Technorati search and see what other bloggers are saying about the Summit. May be more useful than the feedback forms!