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Asian American ministry gathering on 9/21

djchuang — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:15:02 +0000

This week I received this email from Tom Steers about an event for Southern California ministry leaders (and those that’d travel in for it). The AALC mentioned in email below refers to an “Asian American Leadership Conference.”

You don’t have to be Asian American to attend. I’d go just to hear James Choung. When James gave a similar talk during a workshop at Urbana 09, it was standing room only and overflowing; must have had over 500 people there! I had to shoot this video sitting on the floor myself.]

THE GATHERING of Asian American church and parachurch leaders will meet again!

Save this date: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010
We will meet at 10:00 am at Evergreen Baptist Church-L.A. (1255 San Gabriel Blvd., Rosemead, 91770)

We will hear from James Choung, the new director of Asian American Ministries of IVCF. He will speak about his new book, TRUE STORY: A Christianity Worth Believing In.

We will be treated to a free lunch @ noon!

Again, the purpose of The Gathering is to encourage you, to re-connect with Kingdom laborers, and to make new connections. Louis Lee will also be with us to share about a new AALC in April or May, 2012.

I need your confirmation that you are coming in order to have an accurate meal count. Please email me back! If you are interested in going to this event, please e-mail Tom Steers directly at tomsteers@yahoo.com

Also, these events are always open to any key leader that you want to invite. There are 100′s of key leaders that we are not in email connection with. So, we rely heavily on you to invite others! Please do!

Just let me know attendees for our meal count!

With you for HIS eternal victories!

Tom

How to choose conferences and conventions

djchuang — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:30:42 +0000

People being the social beings that we are, live video or holograms will not replace the value of being together in person. While the economy and travel security have changed the industry of conferences and events, organizers are still actively producing events. According to one source, “Meetings and events are responsible for 15 percent of all travel-related spending, create nearly $40 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state and local level and generate more than one million jobs.” ^[pcma]

The question that I get asked frequently is, “Which conference should I go to?” Some call me a “conference junkie” but that doesn’t mean every conference is the right fit for every person.

With hundreds and thousands of events to choose from, it’d be good to know what’s available before deciding on one. In the worlds of business, academia, government, non-profit, and other sectors and vocations, there’s these large online listings for conferences:

bvents.com – “largest database of business events” ~ 142k events
allconferences.com – “directory focusing on conferences, conventions, trade shows, exhibits, workshops, events and business meetings”
goingtomeet.com – “conferences and trade exhibits around the globe”
confabb.com – “the conference community”
conferencealerts.com – academic conferences worldwide
EventSetter.com

And in the world of church leaders, there’s these online listings:

ChurchConferences.org – curated by John Gibbs
ChristianConferenceGuidenceguide.com – Christian Conferences & Events throughout the USA, Canada, UK, Asia and Australia
christianconferencesearch.com – international online christian conference, event and seminar guide

// [update] you can also find webinars and teleseminars on listing/ directory sites like webinarlistings.com, webinarhero.com, finervista.com, freeteleseminarlist.com, Virtual Events Calendar via allvirtual , WebinarBase via Eugenia //

Aside: there’s a whole network of conference and event planners, e.g. Meeting Professionals International, The National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners , meetingexpectations.com, meetingsnet.com, pcma.org

If gathering the elites are exclusive

djchuang — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:25:55 +0000

There’s a place for events being exclusive and invite-only. There’s a place to celebrate excellence. Yet when done in the public eye like a conference that’s priced beyond the pay grade of normal people, what kind of an impact does that have, especially for the next generation? This Business Week article describes an aspect of a possible dynamic between generations:

TED’s Not Dead, But It Is Aging: The annual conference tries to reach out to a new generation, awkwardly

TED was born in 1984 as an underground dinner party for information designer Richard Saul Wurman and friends from the worlds of technology, entertainment, and design. This year, 1,500 people paid $6,000 each to attend the modern version of TED, held in the Long Beach (Calif.) Performing Arts Center from Feb. 9-13. Five hundred more paid $3,750 to watch a simulcast… Twenty-six years in, TED is showing signs of age. One of the most conspicuous is the makeup of attendees, diverse only in that TED appears to attract a white man from every street in Silicon Valley. … conferences… have struggled with similar issues, like: how to get more inclusive without sacrificing intimacy. How to keep loyalists happy while attracting a younger crowd closer to the headwaters of innovation. And how to get that younger crowd to pay six grand.

For a conference junkie like me, I do wonder out loud… (just a tad ironic that I’m returning from a conference, and #sxsw, the conference of conferences is happening right now in Austin) how can people get access? Are these events a good use of money? Words like “stewardship” are seeping into our venacular. Will people travel to gather for a different kind of event when there isn’t that formulaic production of keynotes and workshops? [update] cf. a set of Purpose-Driven regional events for small group leaders that describes itself as “a radical new approach to conferences”; a whole book about this concept= Conferences and Conventions: A Global Industry (Events Management), by Tony Rogers, has a chapter titled “The economics of conferences and conventions“

next gen Southeast Asian Leaders

djchuang — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:28:31 +0000

At SEALS: Southeast Asian Leadership Summit 2010 in San Jose, a conference of 140+ next generation Southeast Asian ministry leaders. Watch the main sessions as they’re being live-streamed. The organizer’s hospitality has been amazing — so encouraged to see the enthusiasm and heart of young leaders eager for God’s glory and caring for all peoples. Here’s a snapshot of who’s here:

I’ll be facilitating a workshop about social media, sort of a different angle than most of the other workshops that are addressing specific ministry issues. So my workshop, titled “Wielding online tools for connecting and collaborating,” is more about online tools & web apps and how they can be used for ministry. My slides are online [created entirely using Google Docs]. Based on discussions that flow from the 2 sessions of the same workshop, I’ll update this post with more links & references.

[updated] Links to Resources mentioned in workshop:

video: social media revolution
Top 100 church blogs via churchrelevance.com
How to get a domained website = domain name (e.g. Godaddy or Name.com) + web hosting (e.g. dreamhost.com or bluehost.com) + content management system (CMS; e.g. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal)
free live-streaming web apps: ustream.tv & livestream.com
- CD’s music : myspace.com/cuzcad + twitter @heyitscd + youtube.com/cd517
- Kai’s food videos at youtube.com/ltkman
- And, we launched The Khmer Palate in class! On twitter @thekhmerpalate and blog thekhmerpalate.wordpress.com and youtube.com/missnget

Lausanne Conversation Gatherings on issues facing the global church

djchuang — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:44:32 +0000

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is taking place in South Africa this October. While most of us won’t be able to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, to attend this Congress (which seems to be a much weightier word than “conference”), there are 2 ways for people to participate: (1) the Conversation Gatherings, (2) the GlobalLink. Looks like an impressive list of church leaders are meeting up.

The Conversation Gatherings are local FREE 2-hour events and anyone is welcomed to participate. Please do register online so they can know you’re coming. These are 5 dates scheduled in Southern California (see the list for all 12 locations):

18 March 2010: Azusa Pacific University (Azusa)
Topics: Future of the Global Church; Race, Power, and Evangelism
Panelists: Brenda Salter McNeil, Brad Lomenick, Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Wes Stafford, Joni Eareckson Tada

30 March 2010: Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena)
Topics: Culture Making — The Role of Christians in the World
Panelists: Jim Belcher, Doug Birdsall, Margaret Feinberg, Michael S. Horton, Richard Mouw, Kara Eckmann Powell, Rich Van Pelt

14 April 2010: Generate at Crossroads Church (Corona)
Topics: Christians and Their Impact on Culture, The Future of the Global Church
Panelists: Charles Lee (moderator), Tony Wood, Jeff Shinabarger, Margaret Feinberg, Rich Van Pelt

~~14 April 2010: NewSong Community Church (Irvine)~~

10 June 2010: Saddleback Community Church (Lake Forest)

The second way to get engaged in these global issues is thru GlobalLink. Each GlobaLink site will have some live-streaming video of Cape Town events and additional conference materials. No locations have been announced yet, far as I can tell.

[update] Also see Charles Lee’s 12 Cities 12 Conversations (A New World Church Conversation) which points to a whole website & blog www.12cities12conversations.com

how a conference can change your life

djchuang — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:46:56 +0000

With so many conferences in the world, I’m often asked which one to go to.

After attending a few conferences, some people begin to discover the value of these gatherings extend beyond the keynote talks and seminar lectures. What’s even more life-changing are the people you meet and the conversations you have.

At the Verge conference in Austin last week, I met Ryan Rice, who is now church planting in Phoenix. Ryan explained how life-changing the one-time-only Innovation³ Gathering was. Watch this video of Ryan Rice telling how that conference changed his life:

Next week, I’ll point you to 2 conferences especially configured so there’s intentional structured time for attendees to engage in more conversations and not only listening to talks.

Convos at Urbana 09 in St. Louis

djchuang — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:27:22 +0000

This week I’m in St. Louis for a large students mission convention called Urbana 09, click on this twubs to follow twitter conversations in real-time.

I’ll be hangin’ out at the Pan Asian North American Student Lounge, located at The Holiday Inn Select St Louis Downtown in between sessions.

Follow @urbana09 for official announcements. Follow me @djchuang247 for live tweets. The official hashtag to use is #urbana09 according to the twubs.

[update] here are 4 videos I’ve posted via YouTube from #urbana09:

Let’s get missional, missional…

djchuang — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:25:15 +0000

Missional communities are the conversations du jour among church leaders, escalating during the past few years. Now there are gatherings (conferences) that revolve around how we can be more missional. (Several local and regional gatherings have already happened, though I haven’t been counting.)

A regional (free) unconference about missional churches is happening this weekend called Verge LA. I’ll be there most of today. Definitely want to hear Kevin Doi, currently scheduled at 1:45pm, and you can watch via livestream at ecclesianet.com. And, I’ll get to meet in person, JR Woodward, host of the unconference. (cf. my interview with Kevin Doi)

But wait, there’s more!

A national gathering is ramping up in Austin, called VERGE: Missional Community Conference.

Listen to my interview with Michael Stewart (one of the Verge organizers at the Austin Stone Community Church) about this national Verge.

I’m putting together a social media team for the Verge in Austin, those who will host online conversations around becoming & being missional communities, both before and during the Verge conference. Start those conversations via blog, Twitter, Facebook, podcast, Youtube, etc. Verge wants to empower and release conversations both online and on-site. Undoubtedly, (our hope is) the convos will continue even after the Austin gathering. Want to be a part of this social media team? Add a comment, especially if you’d like to win a free registration. One spot left.

And one more thing. I’ll be there, at both Verge‘s — would love to meetup with you on-site there!

Presentation on November 30th

djchuang — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:47:41 +0000

// [ update: my presentation and related links are over at the L² Foundation blog - click here ] //

On November 30th and December 1st, I’ll be at the NA-CCOWE (North American Chinese Congress on World Evangelization) conference English Track: “The Challenges and Future of English Ministries”. This is the first time that the conference will host a parallel track, along side of the Mandarin Chinese language track. (Note that the event itself runs from 11/3 to 12/4.)

I’ll be making a presentation in a workshop about next generation Asian American churches. Knowing the audience is primarily English ministry leaders within an ethnic Chinese church, I hope to explore what can be practically applied from what is working among next generation multi-Asian/multi-ethnic churches, adapted from my presentation shared on several other occasions.

This week I got an email with the subject, “Does Asian American Christianity have a future?” for a symposium I can’t attend due to a schedule conflict. The keynote speaker Jon Tran titled his 1st talk: “Why Asian American Christianity has no future: The Over Against, Leaving Behind, and Separation from of Asian American Christian Identity.” That prompted me to think maybe I could re-title my presentation as, “Does English Ministry have a future?” I haven’t titled to workshop yet. But, then again, the conference name already suggests there is a future of English ministries, and we’ll learn and shape what it could look like.

Would love to meet you there offline and let’s learn together. We can even start the conversation online; add a comment below.

View the NACCOWE Conference Flyer and get registered.

Talk with James Choung next Tuesday 8/18

djchuang — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:48:11 +0000

// [update] the talkcast was recorded and you can listen to it at the L2 Foundation blog >> //

I’ll be hosting a talkcast with a very special guest, James Choung, next Tuesday 8/18, at 3:00pm Pacific / 6:00pm Eastern.

On the talkcast, we’ll be talking about how to develop leaders among the next generation of Asian Americans: the opportunities, the challenges, and their incredible potential. A talkcast is like a call-in talk show, and so much more — you can listen on the web, talk on the show, or type in the chat room!

So we will have a very interactive time and we’ll be responding to your questions and comments during the talkcast. RSVP at this Facebook event and let us know you’re joining us!

Dr. James Choung is national director of InterVarsity Asian American Ministries, and is a faculty associate at Bethel Seminary San Diego on missional leadership development and evangelism. He has also written True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In and its companion booklet, Based on a True Story. You can learn more about James at his website www.jameschoung.net.

The web page for the talkcast is www.talkshoe.com/tc/47956 where you can enter the chat room and listen via the website.

Or, you can dial in by phone at Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 and enter Call ID: 47956# . That’s next Tuesday, August 18th, at 3:00pm PT / 6:00pm ET.

[adapted from L2 Foundation blog]

connect at Christian Web Conference 9/11-12

djchuang — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:53:23 +0000

There are few places where followers of Christ can gather and thoughtfully reflect the impact of new media (internet, web, social media, and all that jazz). There used to be the Internet Ministry Conference, and used to be GodBlogCon.

Now there is Christian Web Conference! It’s happening just a month away, September 11-12, at Biola University. (That’s the Los Angeles area, for those of you considering travelling in from afar.) Here’s how the conference is describe itself:

Christian Web Conference is dedicated to fostering fellowship and establishing real life communities among Christians employing web 2.0 technologies to christianly influence the world. The power and appeal of web media technologies is vast. These technologies provide Christians with a new set of Great Commission opportunities.

And how they’re looking to do that:

The Christian Web Conference fosters community and learning through a combination of, idea roundtables sessions, and meal-time fellowshipping with web media experts. Attendees should expect to meet and interact with some of the top intellectual Christian web users in order to form friendships, learn how to improve their web media knowledge and ability from experts, and participate in vision casting for Christian use of web technologies.

Some great people will be there. I can make it to a part of it. How about you?

Add a reply for a 25% discount off registration! First 10 comments on this blog post will get discount code & instructions via email. Currently registration is $60; with the discount, that’d be $45.

connecting in Chicago

djchuang — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:25:33 +0000

This week I’ll be in Chicago and have an opportunity to connect with old and new friends in the Kingdom. At something called the Asian North American Theology and Ministry Consultation, there’ll be maybe 100 or so Asian American leaders involved in various roles of leadership having structured conversations about critical issues. It’s co-sponsored by the Catalyst Leadership Center and the Carl F. H. Henry Center, with Peter Cha playing a vital role as point person on the whole initiative. The gathering’s aim is described as:

… to create an intentional space in which Asian North American theologians and pastors will gather and reflect upon the shared task of the ministry of the Gospel in today’s Asian North American context. As the result of this consultation, it is our hope that ANA theologians and ministry practitioners will be encouraged to collaborate with one another for the ministry of the Gospel.

It’ll be really great to hang out with David Park (nextgenerasianchurch.com), Soong-Chan Rah (profrah.com), and many others. I’d given them all more link love, but I think many do not yet have web presences. Yet.

Later in the week, I’ll be part of a meeting with a small group of next generation Asian American senior pastors, pioneering the way for a new generation of innovative churches that’ll shape the next evangelicalism.

Both of these events are sequestered. So that means there’ll be no live-streaming video nor live-blogging, and probably twittering would be minimal. [update] 4 others are twittering, using hashtag #ana — @dpark75, @semaforic, @reginapchan, @profrah

However, on the evenings of Monday 5/18 and Tuesday 5/19, the ANA consultation will be open to the public!

An Asian North American worship gathering will feature these speakers — Monday: Dihan Lee (Open Door Presbyterian Church) and Nancy Sugikawa (Lighthouse Church); Tuesday: Ken Fong (Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles) and Dave Gibbons (NewSong Church). Location is A.T. Olson Chapel at Trinity International University (2065 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL.) Evening gathering starts at 7:30pm. [please direct questions to registercatalyst@gmail.com]

I’ll be in Chicago representin’ L² Foundation and Leadership Network, and if permissible and with those less easily confused, maybe my raw & uneditd self too.

Worship Facilities Expo Live from Long Beach

djchuang — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:26:54 +0000

Today and tomorrow, I’ll be ensconced at the Social Media Lounge of the Worship Facilities Confernece & Expo here in the Long Beach Convention Center. This is a premium kind of conference with professional event planners behind the logistics and huge exhibits like a trade show.

Look at how big this expo floor map is:

So it’s a whole different vibe compared to the church-run or parachurch-run or publisher-run conferences where (almost) everything is done “in-house.” Definitely more “suits” in the attendance and on the show floor. You can drop in at the Expo for FREE by registering online with priority code IVITE. (a $75 value, yours free for reading this blog post)

For those of you on twitter, use hashtag #wfx to see the twitter chatter at this event. And to get an easy view of all social media related feeds, open a browser window to twubs.com/wfx that’ll automatically refresh with tweets tagged with #wfx, and also photos + videos + more.

And broadcasting live from the Social Media Lounge (#651 on the map above), later today (Thursday), is a live greet & meet 12:00 noon (Pacific) with Michael Trent (@churchbartender), myself, and others. [update] Live video at wfxweb.com

And, from 5:30pm-7:30pm (Pacific) it’ll be a 2-hour edition of The Idea Camp! It’s being dubbed The Idea Session. The topic is “The Ethos of Creativity – A Journey from Ideation to Implementation” with Mel McGowan (Visioneering), Eric Bryant (Mosaic + the Origins Project), Tony Kim (NewSong), and hosted by Charles Lee. Twubs for the Idea Session is twubs.com/theideacamp/liveEvent [update]RT For notes on “catalyzing community & creativity” email eric@mosaic.org w/ “IdeaCamp” as subject

As I blog this, Josh Roberts (@joshinthe818) is sitting next to me, and we’re connected into the same power strip.

(I’ll update this blog post with other live online events as I find out.) [Friday] Got to interview Michael Trent with Holly about third places:

blog tour by Outreach Convention people

djchuang — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:50:18 +0000

Got this comment from the National Outreach Convention (Nov 4-6) is visiting blogs, possibly here today:

The NOC plans on visiting this blog today – at the risk of changing the subject! We hope that a dialogue will not distract from those who are attending Exponential…

Wonder what they’ll do here? I see that they stopped by James Choung’s blog earlier today, and started a conversation there about what’s changing with evangelism. They invited James to lead a workshop. Curious what they might invite me for or to.

Let’s make the Outreach folks feel welcomed here!

Aside: And you can watch Exponential Conference 2009 live at www.plantingchannel.com/exponential/ – happening today thru Thurs 4/23.