M.O.A.C. 2004 in Chicago is coming up in a month, and believe it or not, I am excited to go. You may not think so, but I consider it a good opportunity to talk to people all over the world and discuss real change. The format of the conference is Lesson, then breakout groups. I like it at the Teacher’s Conference last year and I like it in this setting. Friday night and Saturday night are wide open for time to talk. I am excited about it.

So why the name change? It’s simple, really. It’s funny and it fits.

The temptation with this and any other conference is the temptation of self-importance. I am grateful for all the hard work that Chicago has put into this conference. I put together a much smaller program myself for Doug Jacoby almost a year ago, so I understand in a small way the effort required. I’m not picking on them, they are actually doing the work and probably serve with all their heart in putting this conference together. To that, I say ‘thank you’. But for those that claim to be leaders, especially the teachers and lesson speakers, this can be another opportunity to inflate a sense of world-wide importance.

Get over yourself.

Honestly, I don’t want to hear any of the speeches because I do not trust any of the speakers to preach. I would trust Doug Jacoby and Mitch Mitchell. I have met and spoken with these men and I believe their motivation behind what they preach and how they preach it. There are a few others, including the minister at my church and Rich Little, but my point is that I have seen and heard the other speakers and found their past messages to be hollow at best. In some cases, I even believe their messages and preaching to even be insincere.

What I look forward to is meeting a guy from another small church to talk about small church issues (dating,campus and singles ministry, etc.). I look forward to talking to people that actually teach Bible classes and topics and ask them about effectiveness in times, material, and many other things. I don’t want to talk to be big names, I’ve already talked to them. Their issues and areas of concern are worlds away from what I consider important. I want to find other people like me that love their church, work hard, and aren’t afraid to speak their mind. I hope to find people in their early to late thirties. I hope to find SINGLE people that aren’t in college. I hope to find people from a big church that are enjoying ‘the changes’. I especially look forward to talking with those that aren’t Americans – their perspective is usually quite different.

To sum up, I look forward to having a good time at a wonderful conference, even if I do think of the Aflac(R) duck everytime I think about it.