2 Conferences, 2 Unique Experiences

The first church communications conference I ever attended when I was starting out my journey was MinistryCOM. 

At the time I was working for a church of under 1,000 in a small town trying to figure out how to take what I was seeing and learning from other, larger churches and develop a way to apply those ideas and thoughts to my context.

MinistryCOM was like therapy. For the first time I felt like I was understood and in the company of people who “got” what I was thinking. It fueled me with ideas and inspiration and connected me with a number of people who have remained great friends and colleagues in the communications world.

It’s jam packed with ideas, information, workshops and keynotes that will charge you up and empower you to take new ideas and thoughts and implement them in your churches. 

If you are just starting out, need some place to go to get some direction, or if you feel like you could use some fresh insights to enhance your church communications, MinistryCOM is the place to go.

MinistryCOM 09 is coming up September 10-11 at The Chapel in the Chicago suburbs. Park was originally supposed to host the conference, but due to some financial challenges as a result of the current economic situation, we had to back out from hosting. But, moving it from the city to the suburbs has its perks… cheaper hotels and free parking! So for churches that might have been concerned about the costs of staying downtown, this new location is idea and affordable.

And I’ll be there doing a workshop at MinistryCOM on Do-it-Yourself Church Communications!

Learn more about MinistryCOM + register here

So, Cultivate.

Cultivate is going to be a conversation. It’s going to be less presentations, more engagement. No talking heads or dog & pony shows. The details are still being shaped, but I’ll just say this: take Idea Camp, Q, and TED, throw in lots of brilliant leaders in ministry communications and from the marketplace with time to connect and collaborate & you’ll get Cultivate. 

Cultivate isn’t for everyone. If your church is just beginning to think about web design, believe Papyrus or Comic Sans are acceptable church wide fonts or wondering what Twitter is, this is probably not the place for you. 

BUT, if you are leveraging things like social media, find yourself quoting Seth Godin, using Facebook ads, texting and still want push ideas to the next level by stretching yourself and others, then maybe Cultivate is where you need to be. 

Cultivate is not a replacement or competitor of MinistryCOM, it’s just taking that conversation to a more advanced level. All profits will be supporting Center for Church Communications and Blood Water Mission. Facilitators are coming pro bono and the date coincides with another opportunity we’ve partnered with that’ll be announced later this month.

More details will be coming soon… but here’s the website so you can bookmark it. It will be hosted at Park on October 27. 

Both events are unique experiences that will add value to churches across the board and I'm excited to be able to participate in both -- hope to see you at ministryCOM or Cultivate!

Comments

[Mitch Bolton]

thanks. this was helpful to understand the differences. i agree that ministrycom is more at a beginner level. my biggest complaint was that it was "almost" there. "almost" helpful. i still think it's a good thing though.

i'd love to come to Cultivate, but not sure it's in the budget.

[spudart]

I like your seeing the positive side of having MinistryCOM out in the burbs. Very refreshing to hear someone in the city say good things about the burbs. :)

[Leanne Shawler]

Um, I'd respectfully disagree about who Cultivate is for -- I love MinistryCOM and plan to go this year -- but I work at a small church which is still figuring out how to express itself in today's world. Many of the workshops at MinistryCOM are up my alley -- but a lot of the concepts are just out of my price range.

Facebook, Twitter, et al, cost nothing or very little. Church communication conferences on social media is exactly what the small church without the big communications budget needs to go to.

[Ryan Wynia]

Looking forward to seeing you at both, Tim. I'm excited to learn from both groups of leaders and can't wait to see how God is using everyone in unique ways!

BTW, who's Seth Godin? The word "god" is in his last name. Is that on purpose?

j/k

You rock.