Several years ago I began to examine how humans (yep, that includes Christians) are always looking for a silver bullet. “Here’s the diet you’ve been looking for.” “This idea will change how you see everything.” “The 7 things you need to do to get your life back in order.” This sets you up for a downer. For years people have looked to books to help us overcome that one thing holding you back. In Christian circles we can set up conferences the same way. I love books and grow a lot from conferences, but perhaps we’ve set them up too high.
If you’re like me you’ve attended conferences, great ones, and come home unable to translate that content to your team or even to your spouse. Somehow it doesn’t travel on the plane home with you. It was a vacation in leadership land with a few skipped sessions and some decent meals.
When I felt the call to launch Frontline Church Planting as a network and a hub for equipping in Colorado I wondered what value a conference or a large gathering might have. As I looked around I saw amazing conferences all over the country with amazing speakers, amazing content, amazing production and they usually seem to happen in amazing beachy places. It was clear we don’t need another one just like those, and we certainly couldn’t compete with that kind of production.
I came to this conclusion: We don’t need another conference, but we do need more spaces for learners to grapple. We need to grapple with implications of the gospel, forgotten principles, proper application, winsome stories and areas where the church is missing it. We need to hear from practitioners and pray for Jesus’ church. MULTIPLY Conference was birthed out of this longing. MULTIPLY sits on a tripod of values.
Relationship. We sought to launch a gathering where the emphasis was heavy on relationship. We made the decision early on to keep this local to our city and regional to our state. There’s something unique about Colorado leaders and significant relationship solidifies when we gather.
Practitioner learning. We don’t want to learn about what you did twenty years ago; we want to learn the principles you’re applying now. Practitioners tell stories. Practitioners are okay not having all the answers. Practitioners are passionate. We need these ingredients mixed into the batch if we are going to empower practitioners, leaders and experimenters. We certainly believe in excellence- our speakers are awesome, but we’ll take authentic over polished any day.
Paradigm shifts. We kick off MULTIPLY with vulnerability. We ask 15 local faith leaders to share their biggest paradigm shift in the last five years of life or ministry. I hear most of these in conversation over coffee, and I want others to learn from significant moments of failure, tension and risk. The medium truly becomes the message when we are vulnerable.
No, this gathering isn’t a silver bullet that will solve every woe in your life. We have seen people make significant shifts during MULTIPLY. We have seen people inspired to launch new missional ventures. We have seen people receive the call to plant a church during MULTIPLY. We have experienced people receiving healing from their baggage. We have seen God validate small ventures that previously seemed like failures. We have seen churches begin to partner and serve their places better after MULTIPLY.
If you live in Colorado I want to ask you to take a risk and attend MULTIPLY on October 23rd. Oh yeah, we’re doing an all day conference because 12 hours of learning is about all a normal brain can handle, mine included. We have a cheap group rate, because we want you to swindle us by bringing 20 leaders and praying the same rate that four leaders would pay. Check out MULTIPLY here.
Here’s your invite.We want you to join us. Take a risk.