The first national children’s ministry conference I heard about was the Fellowship of Christian Magicians Conference. (It was much more than magic, there were workshops on every type of ministry performance methods to children there where back then) I wanted to attend so badly but my church did not have a conference budget so I remember getting the brochure listing the workshops and workshop speakers and after the event I looked up some of the presenters phone numbers and called them and asked them about their workshops and asked for any notes or cassette recording. One of the people who took my call and sent me his notes was Dick Gruber. Dick thought I was some” country bumpkin” from the south calling him up asking him to teach me “how to do clown ministry over the telephone.” Not only did I find out what I wanted to learn but it was the start of a wonderful friendship. In fact, most of the dearest and best friends I have on this earth I met at a conference.
Even if you can't attend Group's Kidmin Conference you can learn from those who are there.
How do I do that? Get on the website and make a list of the speakers and workshop leaders and follow their blogs. Post questions and look for opportunities to learn long distance. Also find the twitter hashtag of the conference and learn from those who attend. Send them a message or ask them about their learning experience. Take it a step forward and see if you can set up a phone appointment to learn from the learning of others.
I didn't get to attend the D6 conference and I've already asked at least 6 people their bigest take-a-ways from the event. The only person who can stop you from learning from any event is you and you still don't have to attend the event. The first step is desire to learn and make it a priority.
more to come...
Is there a hashtag for this conference that we can follow on Twitter?
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