WhiteBoard Reflections # 1
by Rob ~ May 23rd, 2008. Filed under: WhiteBoard.WhiteBoard was yesterday. I tried to establish a link so I could live-blog, but it wasn’t meant to be. So….thanks to the folks who followed my Twitter feed.
Today I got up early and took Jason to the airport, then came home and started working on the lawn and the garden with my wife. Have had some time to reflect on yesterday, but not nearly enough.
I’ll try to post my notes tomorrow. Until then, there are a host of links from the folks on my bloglist that you can check out.
Let me just say this–WiBo was one incredible conference. Ben Arment is the WiBo Wizard. This guy put together one of the classiest conferences I’ve ever been to. Every time I saw him he was cool, calm, and collected. Either things were so over the top that he had given up, or else he had such a great team in place that he didn’t have to worry. I’m gonna cast my lot with option #2.
Speakers: My brain hurt when they all got done. Not a dud in the lot. I’ll have to say that Stetzer blew me away. I expected him to do some demographics thing…..that his one big idea would be “learn to read your neighborhood” or something…..DANG…..he flat laid it out. He preached. I was astounded. And he wasn’t the only one. Perry Noble and Darrin Patrick didn’t preach at all. They meddled the whole time. Shame on them!
Worship: Lashey and Joyner had me in tears. These guys rock!
Bloggers’ Lunch: What an awesome experience to get to break bread with 50 other bloggers. I actually got to share a sharpie marker with Chris Elrod! Awesome! Jason and I shared a table with Travis Thompson, who, “by coincidence” is in Winter Park, FL, as part of a team transitioning a traditional church. Now wonder Who set up our being at that table? Terrace, Dave & Clayton did an awesome job putting the lunch together!
Connections: Yeah, so I got to talk to all the guys who spoke. But there were a bunch of guys there who should have been on the program. Well, one kinda was…he introduced Perry Noble……Scott Hodge, pastor of The Orchard, and his wonderful wife Amanda, were so very kind and encouraging in their words. Another guy who should have been on the program was Chris Elrod. I had the chance to talk to Chris at one of the breaks, then be at a table adjacent to him at lunch. Jason and I also ran into him taking a picture of himself standing in the middle of the street in Reston Town Center…..gotta wonder about this guy. (He also took a picture of the top of my head…..this guy just ain’t right!) You can read about the recent events in Chris’ life on his blog, and I really didn’t expect that he would be there. But when I saw him and went up to talk to him, it was a very special moment. This guy is the real deal. Also got to catch up with Jay Hardwick. This dude has an incredible servant’s heart. He did an incredible amount of work behind-the-scenes.
New Friends: Got to make a bunch of new friends: folks like Clayton Bell, Ross Middleton, Tally Wilgis, and a bunch of folks that I’ll recall just as soon as I publish this post. Ha!
WiBo Network: I want to float out this idea to all the folks from the Tidewater, Virginia, area: Let’s all get together sometime in early June for lunch and dialogue after we’ve had time to decompress and think through all that the speakers had to say. Email me and we’ll get it set up.
Now…for sleep! Tomorrow…more reflection!




May 26th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
great to see you again, rob! hope you left wibo as filled up as i did! looking forward to talking again soon.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Thank you for the prayers…and the Sharpie marker. It was such a blessing getting to finally meet you and breaking bread together. Yeah…the picture on the street was actually of the hard wood trees next to the cinema. We only have palm tress down here…my issues run deep!!!
I am looking forward to the next time we get to hang out!!!
May 28th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Thanks again for the ride Rob, I really appreciate it.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hey Ross,
Happy to be able to help you out. Was great getting to hear more about your ministry! Blessings!
Rob