LEAD conference...

...so when a friend was talking to me about this conference and i said i would be there, his response was...

"i'm glad you are going, most guys like you don't like Bill Hybels."

while, i'm not sure what he meant by 'most guys like you'...he had me pegged. i'm not a big fan of the whole mega-church thing, and in turn wasn't too keen on going to something a mega-church was putting on...however, like i said to my friend, i'm sure there was going to be things i could get out of the conference...even if i'm not carrying posters of bill under my arm on the way.

and truth be told, this was a great conference, and for the most part i was able to pull SOMETHING from each speaker (except for one). Efrem Smith was one of the speakers...not the one i couldn't pull from...and truth be told, when i saw he was on the list of speakers, that's what pushed me over the edge to go. i'm a fan of Efrem, between UYWI sermons he gave, as well as some teachings i've heard...dude's pretty on point. and he was the greatest wrap up on Friday. and then this morning, Craig Groeschel, resumed things right where Efrem left off and brought things i wasn't expecting to hear. there's much that i'm going to be revisiting in the early part of the week to digest and figure out where i need to adjust who i am and how i attempt to be some kind of leader.

but one of the greatest parts of the 2 days for me was this afternoon when the CEO and founder of Prison Entrepreneurship Program was interviewed and shared about what was happening there...what a phenomenal story and phenomenal program...check out their web-site, hope is real...