Are you getting tired of church conferences? When you read blogs, do you ever wonder if some people just attend conferences all year long? Like they are professional conference attenders?

I've got mixed thoughts about it. You see, my life has been radically altered more than one time through a conference. I've learned transformative principles that changed how I do ministry through a conference. But I've also watched people who go to conference after conference and don't change a thing.

"Stop Talking. Start Doing." That is the theme of this year's Innovate Conference. Here are a few reasons why I think it isn't just another conference.

1. We are young enough (as a church) to remember what it was like starting out, starting from scratch, going from 300 to 500 and from 1000 to 2000.
2. The conference is small enough that you really can interact with our team. Want to drill down on small groups...grab Kathy Guy for a meal and pick her brain. Curious how we handle database integration...find Daryl McMullen and ask anything you want. Want to dive into the specifics of Children's Ministry at Granger...attend the breakout session offered and then ask anyone on the children's team any question you want.
3. Nothing is off limits. We aren't perfect. We haven't figured every thing out. But we are perfectly willing to share from our successes and failures.
4. Experience the love and care from the greatest volunteers on the planet.
5. Everything is changing at Granger. Right now. We are in the middle of it. We'll be talking about what is changing, why, and some of the heart behind it all.
6. Too often, conferences feature a senior-pastor-talker-dude, and you only hear about senior-pastor-type-of-stuff. That's cool, but only about 10% of our attenders are senior-pastor-dudes or dudettes. So we intentionally program the conference for all church staff. 4 of the 7 main sessions, and 13 of the 14 breakout sessions will be taught by non-senior-pastor church staff leaders. 
7. Steven Furtick, a 28-year old pastor from North Carolina, will be sharing the story of Elevation Church. That is a church that didn't exist 3 years ago and now has more than 3,000 people attending. Last month they baptized 1,000 new believers. I'll be taking notes at that session.
8. Everyone has heard of LifeChurch.tv and Craig Groeschel. But how many people have met the team surrounding Craig that makes ministry happen? Craig's entire LifeChurch.tv senior team will be with us talking about innovation through teams.

The early bird rate was supposed to expire last night. A couple phone calls later and we got it extended through midnight tonight (Monday). Tomorrow it goes up by twenty bucks. So if you are a tightwad (like me) or want to save your church some money--take action today.