Eric's observations

Writing from the Hyatt….


Yesterday was a whirlwind for me. Around 4:30 the genius in me realized we were on Eastern Standard Time, not Central Standard time, which meant I was an hour behind schedule of the things I wanted and needed to do.

A few observations on opening night…

1. Bro. Mann announced that for the first 24 applicants to do AYC in Warsaw for campus ministry, the General Youth Board would match their fundraising for the first $2,000. It can be very difficult for young people to raise thousands of dollars, especially if they are from a smaller church. This is really good, I’m sure there will be many applicants.

2. Bro. Greg Glover preached very effectively about starting where the current or previous generation has left off, and not to go back to the starting point. Using examples of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he challenged us to go further in our commitment because God will multiply our anointing to the point where instead of 1 child of promise (Abraham), the second generation had 2 children of promise (Isaac), the third had 12 (Jacob) and they became 12 tribes and a nation.

No one I was with had heard of Bro. Glover before. He is from Alaska, and still single. I wonder if he is one of the younger speakers they have had before.

3. Lots of people. The arena was probably 90% full last night. The place started filling up really early. Columbus almost feels like its too small of a city for such a big conference. The Hyatt hotel is packed (which is why thy have messed many room reservations up). They have wisely instituted a policy that to get into the arena before 7 pm you have to have a registration card. This encourages people to register as well as making sure registrants have first pick at the seating.



On the other hand…

I don’t want to sound too negative, but there were some things I noticed that should be mentioned…

1. The Mayor of Columbus wasn’t there. And unlike last time neither were the youth leaders of the ALJC. There was also no mention or acknowledgment of the Bible Quizzing, which had its finals yesterday afternoon. The “roll call of states” skipped straight over Delaware, going from Connecticut to Florida. Oh well, tonight speaker lives in Delaware (as I did for 18 years).

Some of the video’s they have played have been a little strange. They did a 4 minute countdown with clock and time graphics, but at the end they did another countdown (this time 15 seconds). I though “ok well they are starting church now”, but instead they showed a video….for Youth on Missions. This one was very confusing. At first its this man and woman investigating why a young man didn’t go on Youth on Missions. Then the man interrogates the kid all the while displaying his ability to have a New York, Irish, English and Scottish accent. The video did end strong with the kid saying “I had so much going on in my life, hat did you want me to do?” The man replied “just go.” The tag line said “avoid the conviction.” The spot ended really well, but the first 3 minutes of it was somewhat quizzical.

Finally

Innovation commendation: IBC has two guys walking around with backpacks that have a metal pole extending upward with a computer monitor on the end. They then travel around the concourse as a walking billboard with the IBC DVD presentation playing.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!