If you want to attend a church conference this year, there are certainly plenty of options. Here are some that I recommend:

Feb 18 :: C3 Creative Church Conference (Grapevine, TX)
Learn from speakers and leaders on the cutting edge of creativity and excellence.
Cost: $320-$370

Feb 26 :: Catalyst One Day (Atlanta, GA)
A one day leadership experience packed with teaching and insight from Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel.
Cost: $89-$139

Feb 27 :: The Idea Camp (Irvine, CA)
The Idea Camp is a FREE, open source hybrid conference designed to help people move from the realm of ideas to implementation.
Cost: FREE

Mar 12 :: Unleash (Anderson, SC)
Unleash is a one-day conference hosted by NewSpring Church and specifically-designed to challenge, encourage and motivate church leaders to take action in reaching their communities for Jesus Christ.
Cost: $59

Mar 17 :: The Sticks Middle America (Harrison, AR)
The Sticks is a gathering to inspire and equip pastors in small to medium towns to make a big impact for the Kingdom!
Cost: $99-$209

Apr 20 :: Exponential Conference (Orlando, FL)
Experience God’s church planting movement around the world.
Cost: $159-$249

Apr 23 :: Catalyst West (Irvine, CA)
Catalyst West is a gathering of 3,000 next generation leaders from all over the world for three days of teaching, worship, and exploration of what’s possible for the church.
Cost: $209-$289

Apr 27 :: Q (Austin, TX)
Q is a gathering where innovators, church leaders, social entrepreneurs, and cultural pioneers come together to explore the church’s role in positively contributing to culture.
Cost: $750-$820

May 12 :: The Sticks South East (Canton, GA)
The Sticks is a gathering to inspire and equip pastors in small to medium towns to make a big impact for the Kingdom!
Cost: $99-$229

May 13 :: WFX Worship Facilities Conference (Long Beach, CA)
WFX is designed to educate and your church executive, facilities and tech teams to learn together through a unique conference program that focuses on 4 tracks for facilities and tech teams.
Cost: $145-$445

May 18 :: Catalyst One Day (Dallas, TX)
A one day leadership experience packed with teaching and insight from Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel.
Cost: $69-$139

May 18 :: InnovateChurch (Lynchburg, VA)
Innovating the leader… innovating the church.
Cost: $59

Jul 29 :: Echo Church Media Conference (Dallas, TX)
A conference for church leaders that love using media, technology, and the internet to be more effective in sharing God’s story.
Cost: $99-$329

Aug 6 :: The Leadership Summit (South Barrington, IL)
Willow Creek Community Church’s leadership conference.
Cost: $175-$355

Sep 10 :: MinistryCOM (Chicago, IL)
MinistryCOM is a national conference designed specifically for church communications professionals.
Cost: $100-$325

Sep 24 :: Innovate (Granger, IN)
Whether you have a church gathering of 100 or 10,000 you can begin making innovative, strategic moves that will impact your community.
Cost: $219-$239

Oct 07 :: Catalyst Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
A gathering of next generation leaders from all over the world for teaching, worship, and exploration of what’s possible for the church.
Cost: $159-$319

Oct 20 :: The REVEAL Conference (South Barrington, IL)
It’s an opportunity to participate in challenging dialogue, testimony, and teaching with pastors and church leaders whose practical ideas, vision, and best practice insights are supporting their people in growing spiritually.
Cost: $135-$275

Nov 04 :: National Outreach Convention (San Diego, CA)
Outreach magazine’s church conference.
Cost: $219-$379

For Discussion:
What conferences do you plan on attending this year?

If you need a church property, AcreScout.com is an excellent place to find church real estate. Look for the church building you need or find vacant land for building a church. Here are the latest church properties for sale:

ILLINOIS

$895,000 :: Church and Parsonage (Oswego, IL)
8,000 square feet building size (6,000 church/2,000 parsonage)
1.6 acres lot size
180 sanctuary seating

NEW YORK

$3,499,000 :: Farmingdale Jewish Center (Farmingdale, NY)
21,000 square feet building size
1.65 acres lot size

Also, be sure to check out AcreScout.com/vacant-land to find the latest vacant land listings. Hopefully, there will be a property that is perfect for your church.

Sometimes blunt, crude words are the only things that can shock a person out of a rut and motivate him to improve to the next level. This four-part blog series is for the church worker who needs such forthright words.

So as you do your church work, remember…

You deserve to go to hell.

SAY WHAT?

Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23)
Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

In other words, because mankind’s nature is sinful, we all deserve to go to hell. It is only by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection that you have the opportunity to be redeemed from hell if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. (Romans 10:9-10)

This is the only way. (John 14:6) It is an undeserved gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

THE PROBLEM

If you are a Christian, you are already familiar with this. And that is the beginning of the problem.

1. If not careful, familiarity will desensitize you to the power of the gospel. It makes the gospel old-hat.
2. Desensitization will prevent you from truly grasping what it means to be saved from hell.
3. And when this happens, it becomes far too easy to become drunk on the message of grace and feel entitled to your redemption from hell.
4. The next thing you know, you are telling God what to do and treating Him like He is your servant rather than acting like a servant of God.

I am guilty of doing this. And unfortunately, many other “seasoned” Christians are, too.

WHY THESE CRUDE WORDS HELP

You deserve to go to hell, so ever-presently live like it is true.

Understanding the magnitude of hell and what it means to be redeemed from it will change your priorities, give you passion, and give your clarity.

Church bureaucracy and doing things for the sake of doing things will seem disgustingly meaningless to you. And effectively reaching people with the redemptive gospel message will be your greatest priority.

Stay tuned for more crude words.

On Wednesday, I asked you the readers your opinions on The Review, my new experimental posts full of links. 49 people responded and voiced the following:

• 63% wanted a daily link posts
• 33% wanted a weekly link post (even if it meant fewer total links)
• 4% wanted no link posts

One third of readers do not want daily link posts, and I want to make them happy. And two thirds of readers want daily link posts, and I want to make them happy, too. So here is the plan and the compromise:

1. I will publish a link post each Saturday featuring the best unblogged links for the week.
2. I will try to fit in more short weekday posts highlighting links that are too good to have to share a post with other links.

So The Review is moving to a weekly Saturday time slot. And look forward to an increase in weekly content.

Here is the review of the best links of February 7th.

Domain Pigeon
A new way to see what .com domains are still available. (via)

Buying experiences, not possessions, leads to greater happiness
The study demonstrates that experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased well-being because they satisfy higher order needs, specifically the need for social connectedness and vitality — a feeling of being alive.

THE REVIEW OF 2008
- Jesus’ Ministry Marketing (4 of 4) :: Two Big Lessons

THE REVIEW OF 2007
- 4 Essentials of Great Church Names

Here is the review of the best links of February 6th.

Seth Godin says:
“The story you tell is far more important than the way you tell it. Don’t worry so much about being cool, and worry a lot more about resonating your story with my worldview. If you don’t have a story, then a great show isn’t going to help much.”

Reaching People in Europe
The institutional church and the attractional, extractional, building-focused, one-parish-per-town, outsider, long-term approach are not really penetrating the lost peoples of Europe. We must consider the cultural climate that exists in Europe and adjust our strategies and methods to be more effective.

25 Signs of a Healthy Church
(1) The church seeks to know and to follow God’s will. (7) The church is adaptable and flexible. (13) People feel accepted, encouraged, and included. (19) The church has a clear vision, priorities, and plan.

Love Makes Kids Smarter
Mother love doesn’t just make for a psychologically well-adjusted child, it also makes for a smart kid. We need attachment and love. We need to be held and talked to and made to feel that at least one person wants to be with us all the time.

9 Ideas for the Church in the Bad Economy
#7 Setup a ministry of mechanics who take one Saturday a month to consult on car problems for locals and members.

Top 30 Atheist/Agnostic/Skeptic Blogs
Want to know the thoughts, perspectives, and cultures of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics? Don’t assume they are homogeneous. This list is a great place to start for insights. For better insights, have real relationships with them. (via)

100 Beautiful Free Textures
Every graphic designer needs some good textures.

The Effects of Wearing Red or Blue Neckties
In high-stakes politics and business, there are only two colors of ties: red and blue.

THE REVIEW OF 2008
- Jesus’ Ministry Marketing (3 of 4) :: Why Church Marketing Does Not Measure Up

THE REVIEW OF 2007
- How Americans Feel About Religious Influences
- Statistics Show Parents Believe the Overuse of Media is Unhealthy for Kids

Here is the review of the best links of February 5th.

Apple’s Design Process
Learn how Apple can “get” design when so many other companies try and fail.

4 Things Church Members Want From Their Pastor
(1) Your time. (2) Your ear. (3) Your presence. (4) Your prayers.

3 Steps for Maximizing Your Church Facility’s Reach
Your church facility strategy should progress from the simplest choices to more complex choices. Though it’s obvious, you’d be amazed how often these steps are taken out of order. (via)

Blue and Red are Great for Advertising
Red is the most effective at enhancing our attention to detail, while blue is best at boosting our ability to think creatively. Thanks to stop signs, emergency vehicles and teachers’ red pens, we associate red with danger, mistakes and caution. The avoidance motivation, or heightened state, that red activates makes us vigilant and thus helps us perform tasks where careful attention is required to produce a right or wrong answer. Blue encourages us to think outside the box and be creative. Through associations with the sky, the ocean and water, most people associate blue with openness, peace and tranquility.

Choosing the Right Blogging Platform
John Saddington scores 7 blogging platforms in 17 areas. Find out which is #1.

Teens Want to Help Their Parents
Teens don’t always act out of personal desire or selfishness, but feel relatively obligated to help their parents, even when the requests are small.

Young Teens Really Are Shortsighted
Compared with adults, the researchers found, teenagers consider the future less and prefer immediate rewards over delayed ones (for example, $700 today versus $1,000 a year from now). But it may not be impulsivity that guides their lack of forethought. Instead, the study found that teens are shortsighted more due to immaturity in the brain systems that govern sensation seeking than to immaturity in the brain systems responsible for self-control.

100% Duplicate Blog Content Hurts SEO
Google hates duplicate content. Everyone related to the network has suffered. Because of Google’s indexing robots, they attach “relationships” between sites via links and this “relational capital” is then factored in the power and effectiveness of the results. The fallout is diluted brand and poor ranking.

THE REVIEW OF 2008
- Jesus’ Ministry Marketing (2 of 4) :: WWJD Today?

Here is the review of the best links of February 4th.

17 Career Lessons from IDEO’s David Kelley
“The greatest responsibility of any leader is to make new leaders.” & “Do not allow hierarchy and status into your teams, and your workplace because it will destroy collaboration.” & more

6 Areas of Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design
by Smashing Magazine

Top 50 Countries that Persecute Christians
(1) North Korea (2) Saudi Arabia (3) Iran (4) Afghanistan (5) Somalia (6) Maldives (7) Yemen (via)

Which Religions Believe in Evolution?
The Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that views on evolution differ widely across religious groups.

U.S. Facebook Users by Age
Women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook. (via)

Kids Are Growing Up Faster
They’re kids for a shorter period of time. More is expected of them academically, responsibility-wise. Tweens have their own sense of fashion in a way we didn’t have before and their own parts of the popular culture targeted toward them. How will this shape their personalities? Time will tell. We don’t know.

13 Tips for Good Blogging
(1) Pick a Unique Topic (2) Develop a Unique Voice (3) Design (4) Useful Content (5) Be Prolific (6) Love Your Readers to Death (7) Be Original (8) Express an Opinion (9) Get Visual (10) Use Titles with Bling (11) Longevity Counts (12) Build Momentum (13) Drive People to Your Archives

THE REVIEW OF 2008
- Jesus’ Ministry Marketing (1 of 4) :: The 4 P’s