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Highlights from The Elephant Room

Got back yesterday from the Elephant Room, which was an amazing experience. James MacDonald has a great wrap-up [here], but I wanted to throw in a few of my own highlights:

1. One of the greatest moments in the event (for me) was when Greg Laurie pointed out that Steven Furtick and Matt Chandler have a difference of spiritual giftedness. Chandler has a bent toward teaching; Furtick toward evangelism. I get so tired of pastors building their churches around one gift and then calling the other approaches “unspiritual.” I have an evangelistic bent but am very cognizant of “gift clustering” in churches.

2. Perry Noble. I’ve invited him to 4 out of the 6 conferences I’ve done because I love the guy. He was incredible in this format.

3. No one other than James Mac could have moderated an entire day of conversations that gripped people’s attention from top to bottom. He felt some regret later for instigating, but I disagree. He lit fires in all of the right places to make the whole day absolutely compelling. There was a lot of risk in hosting 6 hours of conversation, but he bore the burden for everyone’s benefit.

4. The Opener. Dallas Jenkins ran point on constructing the piece, which featured the voice of the Detroit Chrysler commercials. Most of the footage was shot the night before.

5. If you want an example of a guy who truly builds a culture of honor, it’s David Platt. He honors everyone else — especially the hurting and the poor — and expects none for himself. I think the big ugly secret of this whole culture of honor movement is that much of it is a ploy to justify it for oneself.

6. I got to have dinner with the sons of some national spiritual leaders – Dallas Jenkins, Jonathan Laurie and Luke and Landon MacDonald. Exciting to see how strong their own convictions and passions are for God.

7. Janine Nelson – director of JMac’s Walk in the World – is the best kept secret in the ministry world. Was great to work with her and the WITW team through this whole process.

8. Mark Driscoll’s critique of the New Calvinism movement. He talked about the lack of conversions in the movement; the tendency toward “birth” (good family, good church, good Gospel) over “rebirth” (conversions); and how many of the pastors are like gun collectors (looking after the Gospel) rather than soldiers (sharing the Gospel). My views are not reformed, so I did not see this coming. Much respect.