1) They're All Over-Priced
2) They've Said it Before
Most conference speakers are either giving canned talks over and over again or they're pastors who speak at conferences as a side gig. In either case, their conference material is normally quite similar to their latest book.
I have heard Josh McDowell live twice in the last two years. Once in chapel during Bible college, and once at an apologetics conference. He gave the same talk both times (chapel was 15 minutes shorter due to time constraints). Based off of the description, he was delivering the content of this book.
The fundamental problem with going to a top dollar leadership conference to hear your favorite pastor, author, or blogger is that you already know what they're going to say. That's why you're excited to go hear them. In the words of my friend Cody Pope, "I've read the book. I know what they're going to say."
I'll do my own rundown.
- I read Swerve and I own It, I know what Craig Groeschel is going to say.
- I've got all of Andy Stanley's books and podcasts. I know what he's going to say.
- I read SteveFurtick.com. I know what he's going to say.
- I've got The Shaping of Things to Come. I know what Alan Hirsh is going to say.
- I've got Crazy Love. I know what Francis Chan is going to say.
- I've watched the Nooma videos. I know what Rob Bell is going to say.
- I've read some Erwin McManus. I know what he's going to say.
- I've been to the Acts 29 website and YouTube. I've heard his rant about men in church on YouTube. I don't need to pay $100 to hear it live.
What am I missing? Are we Gnostics; hoping that if we go to a conference we can get the secret knowledge?
I know I'm over-stating my position a bit, but the point remains. All of these guys are top level conference speakers because they're putting out lots of great resources. And none of their other resources cost $100 for every hour of content. It would take me way longer than an hour to read all of Swerve, and I can do that for free.
Now sure you're going to get some additional information at the conference, but is $100 worth of additional information?
I'm way more cynical of it all, and in all honesty, I try to be different. But still in honesty, when I receive this year's fliers for the Leadership Summit, as always, it made feel EXACTLY like when I receive those spam emails telling me why my wife is not satisfied with me, and of course, offering to to correct the problem with their miracle, all-natural pills.
ReplyDeleteGod-product. Male Enhancement. Even the marketing verbiage sounds the same. Be who you were meant to be.
That's so painfully and embarrassingly true.
ReplyDeletethe true value in these types of conferences is the personal interaction with the personalities themselves and networking/idea sharing. Then again, if one is put off with the rock star consumeristic version of American Christianity... the personal interaction with your favorite celebrity pastor is superficial and lackluster.
ReplyDeleteWhat's surprising is that a lot of famous Christian authors are fairly easy to get in contact with.
ReplyDeleteAt CIU me and another guy exchanged some with Phillip Yancey simply by sending an email to his publisher indicating we wanted to talk to him about the school. You e-conferenced with Ed Stetzer simply by reading his Twitter. I bounced some ideas off of Charles Arn (church growth expert), and I'm not even sure how I got in a conversation with him. Craig Groschel responds to comments on Swerve, and a guest blogger on Swerve posted on my blog and gave out his personal email address.
Besides the top level zero access guys, most of these guys are relatively easy to get in contact with. You don't even need the conference to network.
Speaking of our favorite celebrity pastors...I WAS 10 FEET AWAY FROM STEVEN FURTICK!!! AND I SAW HIM SING THE SECOND VERSE OF HEART OF WORSHIP!!!