Reviewing the North American Convention

After spending a few days in Anderson at our annual NAC, I thought I would offer a few thoughts. This could be dangerous - even foolhardy, but here goes.

It is sad to see the attendance figures still dropping each year. Gas prices, travel options, and questions about the new auditorium probably affect the numbers. I hope and anticipate that things will rise over the next few years, but I think some changes need to be made. After all, the pioneers of this Movement were innovators not status quo thinkers. I have a few suggestions:

1. On several of the evenings, have multiple services. Why is one service the only choice in the evening? If the speaker doesn't interest you or the venue doesn't appeal to you, what can you do? Sit home and watch it on cable? Watch it on the Internet? How about offering at least three different services - one in Reardon, one in Byrum and one in the Wellness Center.

2. Multiple venues will increase the number of speakers. In a world where we are competing with options, why fight the trend? Every Sunday, our folks have their choice of speakers at our multiple service options at home - why not at Camp Meeting? That way, if one speaker flops (and they do) then you can hear about the other one(s) that didn't. It would increase your sales of tapes and videos.

3. On at least 3 nights, combine into just one service. Keep the Wednesday night celebration together and Friday night AU opening. You might add the one where we invite and outside guest to speak as the third night. On that night, you could still have 3 venues and even 3 worship services. You could then send the picture and video of the sermon into the other venues. This is not necessary, but could be interesting.

4. Theme the different venues. Have one service be a contemporary service with a guest worship leader (Chris Tomlin or David Crowder come to mind). You would surely attract more young people with a service like that. Have one be a southern gospel theme. Use quartets and trios for your base and have a good old time with a hymn sing. They do this on one night after the service. Why after? Why not have a service with that as the theme? Bill Gaither sure has made a lot of money by doing this on a grand scale. Why not do it for a service or two during Camp Meeting. You could do this at Reardon or in the Wellness Center. You could even do this at Park Place. Logistics are not the problem. How about a bi-lingual service? Hispanic, Korean, German, Russian, etc. You could feature some missionaries sharing testimonies during the service instead of trying to have one of them preach on Wednesday night like they did this year (with less than sterling results). How about a multiple preaching night where you have several preachers preach at one service. This happens at venues such as a Preaching Clinic - why not at Camp Meeting? For those who are more interested in preaching than anything else, this would seem ideal. Surely we have the worship leading talents and the preaching talents to make such a thing work. The themes can go on and on (Women only, Men only, Youth driven, Children's Service, etc.).

5. Use pre-recorded video announcements and promotions to use prior to the services. That way, it all gets done well and it can be used a multiple locations.

6. Pre and Post-service gathering events. Something should be done to capitalize on the "Camp Meeting Shuffle". There were vendors selling all kinds of things outside the Wellness Center (food - even beer battered onion rings!). With all the room in the back of the Wellness Center, why not set up some kind of reception areas for different groups? Give away stuff that you want people to have; Introduce people that you want the church to meet (like the missionaries before or after the Wednesday service); give water out to those who need it; put up an area for Healing or for Prayer or for Counseling. Have an ice cream social after one of the services. Do something that allows you to take advantage of the crowd already gathered. You could do these at any or all of the three or four venues.

7. Please, find people who can preach and let them speak at Camp Meeting. Only a few of those who spoke were either theologically sound (wow! for a group that prides itself on its doctrine, there were some amazing statements made that had no theological base at all) or biblically accurate (at least one preacher never even had a text). There are some great preachers in this Movement (I hope). Let's find them and those who have a great reputation for preaching and give them a chance to share with others.

Oh well, just a few thoughts. What do you think?