One Big Take Away From The Take Part Conference

Everyone was blown away by the response we got at the Take Part Conference last Saturday. It was one of those things that completely exceeds expectations in every way. It was amazing for two reasons. First, I had so little confidence in myself, that I wasn't sure it would even work, which was sort of an arrogant way of thinking on my part. Secondly, it wasn't successful because of anything I did. It was amazing because God and a bunch of His people showed up and connected in a huge way.

I had the privilege of emceeing the day. And right at the very beginning, I got to tell everyone that our goal was for them to take home at least one great new idea they could use to take worship to the next level at their church. Then I got to spend a good portion of the day wondering around, asking people what their one thing was. Here are some of the things people told me.

"For me today has really confirmed that God is calling me to the worship team at my church."

"I learned that we (bass players) have a musical ministry, and what we do reaches people for Jesus."

"Tommy Corbin talked about how less is more when it comes to drums, that had a big impact on me."

"Jeff Merry said, 'When we're in a rut, we can only see the walls of our rut. But when we spend time with God, He'll raise us up to see all that He's doing.' That hit close to home."

My one big take away
There were many more great take aways in addition to the ones above. But I also wanted to share my one big take away as well.

I didn't begin planning the Take Part Conference because I have extensive experience with conference planning, because I don't. It was actually the result of a survey my team did among worship leaders and teams.

We called and bunch of worship leaders, and asked them a bunch of questions. When we looked at the data, we discovered that isolation and burnout are two major trending issues among worship leaders and teams in our community. The conference was our attempt to respond to those problems.

As I worked with Worship!Arizona founder Jeff Merry, and a few other worship leaders to plan and market Take Part, those nagging voices of doubt rang in my mind, trying to convince me that my efforts would fail. And there were a lot of days where I listened to those voices and thought This isn't going to work. Nobody is going to come to this. Maybe it's time to pull the plug. 

In fact, Jeff received more than one panicked email from me about conference details. When we met, I would voice my fears and concerns. He could hardly let me finish speaking before denouncing the voices in my head, and pushing me to see that God wanted to use us and the conference to work in the worship scene in our community. He was such a consistent and positive influence on me.

Then last Saturday, I got to sit back and watch the fruit of everyone's hard work as God moved the hearts of a bunch of worship leaders and their teams at the conference.

This is the bass guitar workshop that Dwight Kilian and Todd Johnson put on. It absolutely rocked.

I've heard people say the key to success is believing in your dreams. But honestly, that sounds like a lame motivational poster quote. The truth is, I have a lot of big dreams. I chase the ones I believe God is calling me to. But sometimes I find my self doubting my dreams. During those times of doubt, the steady hand of a good friend can be the thing that keeps me from falling down. So my big take away is this:

Follow the dreams God has given you. And keep a good friend around for when the dreams are not enough. 

Here's my question for you: What's the most impactful thing you've heard/read so far this year?