Innovate Conference- Eric Geiger

I recently attended the Innovate Conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church. In the next several posts, I'll share some of the notes I took during the conference.

The first speaker was Eric Geiger, Executive Pastor of Christ Fellowship Miami. He spoke on the concept of "Simple Church", that the modern day church has complicated what the original church in Acts was all about. Here is some of what was shared in his session:

"The church has drifted from its core message and mission. Clutter drowns out the essence of who we are. Drift never corrects itself- it must be addressed".

Two types of drift: drift toward complexity and a drift off mission.

Addressing the drift:

1. Clarify your discipleship process- is discipleship a brochure or a blueprint?; discipleship is transformation not information; not just knowledge but obedience

2. Be careful not to over-program early in your discipleship process- you can compete against yourself

3. Ensure missions is deeply embedded in your discipleship process- missions must be central to the purpose

4. Live your process- you must be able to do what you offer

5. Align people and departments around the same process- example of Google homepage vs. Yahoo homepage; is the entire church moving in the same direction or is it a bunch of sub-churches sharing the same space?

6. Remove the clutter- clutter takes resources (time, money ) from the essential things; read about Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18: 1-5