con·fab noun ˈkänˌfab,kəәnˈfab/ 1. an informal private conversation or discussion.

FALL 2015

Connections ministry. A generation ago, the term didn’t exist in churches. Oh, we had it, whether you called it discipleship or church training or by some other descriptor. But today, you can barely throw a rock without hitting a church that has a connections ministry or a connections pastor. But what should a connections ministry do, and how should they do it? That’s what our current generation of churches is constantly defining. Whether you count connections as the umbrella over evangelism, guest services, discipleship, small groups, or volunteer culture, you have to define what you’re doing and how you do it better. That’s the reason for the Connections Confab. Whether you’re brand new to your ministry position or a seasoned vet, we’re providing a common table where big churches, small churches, and in between churches can learn from one another and develop strategies to carry connections ministry forward. What is it? • Four on-site sessions at the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, led by Danny Franks,

Connections Pastor. • In-depth discussions, coaching, and practical engagement on the following topics:

o Guest services. Honoring guests without losing the gospel, engineering your weekend for the outsider, mechanical vs. organic hospitality, creating and protecting your church’s guest services DNA, building and casting vision for the “why” behind the “what.”

o Connected to committed. Planning for the second visit, developing next steps, covenant membership, strategies to help newcomers.

o Volunteer culture. Identifying, inviting, training, and keeping volunteers, preventing vision leaks, micromanagement vs. quality control, structuring your teams for success.

o Leadership development. Raising up high-capacity volunteers, leadership pipeline, giving away good people, defining and adding to your connections staff team.

o Your stuff. The best training will come from each other, as we explore the current struggles and successes in your local context.

Who should come? • Full-time ministers who consider guest services, volunteer ministry, or covenant membership their key areas

of focus. • Part-time or intern staff who are struggling to keep their heads above water and need to get the right tools in

their tool box. • Senior pastors who don’t know exactly what this should look like in their churches, but know it’s not

currently happening. • Multi-site church leaders who are building the airplane while it’s in the air, and trying to keep their ever-

growing systems under control. • Leaders of ministries like kids, students, small groups, etc., who want to infuse gospel-driven hospitality into

their culture, ethos, and DNA. • Not everybody and their cousin. To keep conversation high and anonymity low, we’re keeping the Confab to

a dozen people or less.

What do I get? • Practical, applicable training that will help you grow as a leader and help your church grow in the area of

assimilation. • A new community of friends and kindred spirits from the world of connections ministry. The intentionally

small gathering will lend itself to relationships that last long after our final meeting. • A ton of resources, from books to tools to documents to…you name it, we’ll fill your carry-on bag with it. • A behind the curtain, all-access look at the guest services processes of the Summit Church, a multi-site

congregation that welcomes thousands of attendees and hundreds of guests on a weekly basis. Getting started • Dates. Check your calendar and be able to commit to all four dates we’ve set aside for the training. Each

meeting will last from 9 AM until 4 PM. (Except for Saturday, October 10, which is 9 AM – 8 PM, with an optional Sunday stayover & campus tour.)

o Thursday, August 20 o Wednesday, September 16 o Saturday - Sunday, October 10-11 o Wednesday, November 11

• Cost. The Confab is $1500 per participant, which covers a veritable truckload of resources, materials, meals

on site, and one night’s lodging prior to each day of training. (A reduced rate is available for locals who don’t need a hotel.) You’ll cover transportation and any meals outside of the event.

• Application. Fill out the online application ASAP. All applications are due by June 30, 2015. You’ll receive a welcome-aboard confirmation (or awesome “It’s not you, it’s me” parting gifts) by July 6, 2015.

Who’s he? Danny Franks has served as the Connections Pastor at the Summit Church since 2003. In that role he oversees the guest services and covenant membership strategies for eight campuses and more than 8,000 weekly attendees. He’s been in local church ministry for over two decades and consults with churches, pastors, and ministry leaders across the country. Danny is a regular blogger at dannyfranks.org, a regular twit @LetMeBeFranks, and an all-around decent American. He and Merriem have been married for 22 years and have four kids ranging from preschool to college age. They hang their proverbial hats in Durham, North Carolina.

Who are they? The Summit Church is a story of God’s faithfulness. Pastor J.D. Greear was called

as lead pastor in 2002, and it’s been a thrill ride ever since. From 300 core members to more than 8,000 attendees today, the last thirteen years have been marked by a renewed commitment to the gospel, a blazing heart for missions, and an eye towards the surrounding community.

The Summit is a multi-site congregation that believes in both launching campuses and planting churches. In the past decade we’ve grown to eight campuses in the Triangle region of North Carolina, planted over twenty churches in North America, and sent out nearly 200 members to full time, overseas ministry.

Biblical hospitality and great guest service is woven into the fabric of the Summit. We believe that the sermon starts in the parking lot, and so our weekends are planned with the first time guest in mind. We want to meet people right where they are and introduce them to the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

What Confab alumni are saying: This has been an incredible opportunity for me personally. There are things that I have learned (and re-learned!) in the Confab that brought me back to the excitement and passion I had for ministry when I first began several years ago. The opportunity to spend time discussing individual ministry and goals with peers is, to my knowledge, the first of its kind and scope. The reading materials and discussions have brought my ministry to the next level. Derek Arnold, Connections Minister, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, NC For me the Confab has been so inspiring and encouraging. You meet people from all over who have walked through or are walking through helping their church learn the best way to get people connected and growing. I've learned so much and have had such an amazing time taking back what I've learned to our church. The Summit’s Connections team is great at what they do, and continue to be a great resource as our church navigates all of the changes we are implementing from the things we have leaned from the Confab and from the other people and churches represented there. Definitely a great thing to invest in for yourself or church team! Destiny Stamps, Volunteer Coordinator, Covenant Love Church, Fayetteville, NC From its organization, to the welcome gift box, to the four days of content, and incredible hospitality, the Connections Confab was an incredible and worthwhile investment into me personally as a ministry staff member. Not only that, but the things covered will help our local church move forward with welcoming and excellent connections efforts. Eric Clark, Assimilation Minister, Stonegate Fellowship, Midland, TX This is a wonderful investment into my own personal and ministry spiritual development. Each time we meet, the leadership from The Summit goes beyond my expectations to take care of every detail inside and outside the workshop. They are clear in stating the objectives and the how to's in developing, growing and executing the First Impressions ministries (without saying their way is only way to do ministry). They are transparent with what works and does not, allowing you to see things when they just don't go as planned. I would recommend Confab to anyone willing to take the next step in what God is calling him or her to do. Brian King, Director of First Impressions, Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, NC Confab was an opportunity for me to get back into the classroom and start thinking again. All that stuff they didn't teach us in seminary, we got to toss back out there and start discussing and reading books about it. This helped me develop a framework for the years of experience I already have, plus developing the plans, systems and structures I have to put in place for the future. Confab helped me connect the whys and hows of ministry to the importance of getting people connected to the church in order for them to know Jesus more. Josh Benfield, Associate Pastor of Formation, Waypoint Church, Durham, NC