This week we are getting ready to host our 3rd  Annual Revive Conference. I’m not sure everyone at our church views the conference  the way I do, but for me personally, it’s one of the most anticipated gatherings of the year.  Several years ago when the economy tanked so did our budgets to go to seminars and conferences. I’m not a conference junkie, but I do enjoy them and benefit by becoming a better person, pastor and leader by attending conferences that focus on my passion. So I had this thought, “Why not create a conference specifically for our church?” Good idea! If you can’t go to a conference, why not bring the conference to you!

Each year the REVIVE Conference has gained momentum. Our focus for this particular conference is the Holy Spirit and personal and corporate revival. This is a time where we take 2-3 days per year to focus and celebrate our pentecostal roots and heritage and what God is saying to us for our future.

Here are five reasons why your church needs a conference:

1. Everybody in your church can attend. Notice I said everybody can, but not everybody will. When you create a conference of your own it allows you to customize a conference specifically for your church that most people will want to attend. It’s an opportunity to expose your church to leaders you’ve heard and benefited from. When your church hosts a conference you create an all inclusive experience for your congregation that you would normally experience alone at a conference you may travel to alone.

2. Expands the church’s heart and vision. When we take time to focus on our values, God increases and releases extraordinary vision. Taking 2-3 days as an entire church to align ourselves with God’s heart is the healthiest thing that can happen for a body.  We gather to experience and encounter God together and come away with more of God’s heart and fresh vision for our community, nation and world! The REVIVE conference has expanded our “heart” capacity as a church to pursue the impossible and live the dreams that before seemed so distant.

3. Excels church health and growth.  Hosting your own conference helps you to achieve optimal health and growth faster. I’m not referring to a painless process or promoting a short cut mentality. When you bring in leaders that have led churches where your church is currently at and are now where you want to go your conference turns into an accelerated classroom. Your church can learn faster by understanding another church’s mistakes. It can catch a vision of where you as a leader want to take them by listening to a leader who is already there. The most powerful thing about hosting a conference is that most things are caught not just taught. It creates an opportunity to for your entire church to catch simultaneously the Holy Spirit’s work behind a bibilical blueprint.

4. Excites and brings enthusiasm to your church. A conference gives something for your church to look forward to beyond the norm. It’s a chance for you and your team to pour into your people the very best that’s been poured into you. Conferences can help begin, sustain and capture spiritual momentum.

5. Equips and empowers your church to DO. I think more than any other conference this year our people will go away from the conference feeling equipped and empowered. The ultimate goal of any conference should be equipping  and empowering people to do something with what they’ve learned. We don’t want the end result to be an audience that was entertained, but a church that is mobilized to do the works of the ministry.

If you live in close proximity to the Greater Sacramento, please be my guest to join us this coming Sunday and Monday!

Does your church host a conference? How has your church benefited?