Archives For Conferences

Why You Should Go To !C//Orphan

Chris Marlow —  January 28, 2011 — 6 Comments


I’ve recently been asked multiple times why “one” should attend !C//Orphan. I thought I would take a moment to share why I think EVERYONE should go! But, I do realize I’m biased!

Back-story

My friends Charles Lee started The !deaCamp roughly two years ago. The heart behind The !deaCamp is simple: how to bring ideas alive through collaborating and partnering together.

Each “camp” has one single focus. So far, we’ve had camps focused on Idea’s in general, justice, Church in the City, Sex (trafficking, prostitution, etc.) and some others!

The hope:

No superstar speakers. No large compensation and no talking heads. The focus was simple: everyone is involved. Speakers (guides) were meant to facilitate conversation on certain topics with the crowd.

Also, the hope was this: that you would actually SKIP sessions, connect in the hallways or go eat together with a new or old friend’s, and find ways to partner and collaborate. This was intentional and communicated often.

It was never really about a conference, as much as it was about creating space to gather like-minded people and connect some key organizations, who could help make the world a better place.

On top of that, the focus (for the most part) would be on right-brained creative expressions. This created a beautiful niche that I felt was much needed in the conference space!

That said:

I was on the phone a little over a year ago with Jason Kovaks. Jason helps lead the Together for Adoption Conference. A great conference in its own right. Jason was encouraged by what he has seen with the !deacamp, and thought it would be great to have one focus the orphan. He wanted to make it happen.

A year later I was hanging in NW Arkansas with Mike Rusch. After a key conversation, we decided to connect with Charles and see if he was interested – he was!

!C//Orphan is really a creative expression that is connecting a tribe of passionate people who care for the plight of the orphan and want to do more about it. Some of these people are experts, some are “normal” people who are doing amazing work and others are just now entering this space and realizing how connected the heart of God is to the poor.

We have changed this !deacamp a bit, we’ve added some creative expressions such as some more up-front-speaking (EX:Ted Talks – short and sweet), numerous panels to facilitate conversation, some amazing breakouts, a concert and, oh by the way…we’re offering childcare!

Here are some organizations and leaders that are involved.

Compassion
World Vision
Children’s Hopechest – Tom Davis
Love 146 – Rob Morris
Saddleback Church
Artist Panel w/ Esther Havens, Aaron Ivery and Jonathan Olinger.
John Sowers
A Child’s Right
Christian Alliance for orphans.
Jason Kovacs and Dan Cruver
Gladney & Bethany Adoption Agencies.

I’m extremely excited about this !deacamp. It’s a one-time-only conference, there will be no future !deacamp’s focused entirely on the orphan!

If you leave a comment and tweet this post (see example below) I will give away two free registrations. (not including travel or child-care)

Example Tweet:

.RT: @chrismarlow – Why you should go to #icorphan and connect w/ creative orphan advocates. http://wp.me/pTN2p-MM

Also, if you leave a comment I will send you a discount code for registration.

Click here to register.


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DENVER 2010 UNconference

Chris Marlow —  June 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

Next week I travel to Denver to speak at Denver 2010: Where the next BIG idea meets UNconference.”

I’m looking forward to connecting with old friends, meetings new ones and also learning from the other speakers and the audience. The hope is that we can collaborate on how to partner with God in the renewal of all things.

The event is free. You can register via Facebook.

I really hope to see you there. Plus, it’s Denver in June; It’s hard to get much better than that, right?


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Post Ideation Thoughts

Chris Marlow —  April 8, 2010 — 2 Comments



I hope to post some further thoughts next week. Until then, here’s some quick hits and key points-of-learning from the 2-day !deation Conference.

  • Leadership Development: Great leaders have great coaches. Example: Some !deation speakers are getting coached in areas of communications and negotiations. I’m going to implement this asap.
  • It takes money to create mission. Don’t be afraid to spend cash, just do it wisely and make sure it creates missional movement.
  • Collaborate. Again and again!
  • Humility was a theme. Normal people trying to create a better future for out world.
  • The conversations with other thought leaders at lunch, over coffee, and in the hallways of the hotel had a greater impact than the conference itself. This is a good thing, and I’m sure Charles would be happy :-)
  • Even the experts are struggling to find solutions to the world greatest problems. No one has it all figured out. Just do something, learn and don’t give-up!
  • Some really amazing !deation volunteers who served the rest of us. Thanks to all of you!
  • The audience was just as sharp as the speakers. Amazing!
  • Sad – this would have been a really good conference for pastors to grasp with missional possibilities outside the church norm. Wish more would have attended.
  • Design is VITAL to any organization. Don’t skimp on design.
  • Whatever you do, tell the story as soon as possible. Implement quickly, to build momentum.

More next week!


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Quick Update

Chris Marlow —  April 4, 2010 — Leave a comment

Lot’s going on this week!

I wrote a blog post for my friends Restore Austin. You can read it here. Restore Austin is also apart of Austin New Church. I will be speaking at ANC this Sunday about Gospel Justice. Love this church, and how they serve the community of Austin and the world.

By time you read this, I should be in Long Beach, CA attending The Ideation Conference. You can follow the conference on Twitter@theideation and the hashtag #theideation.

Also, some big announcements later this week, bring on a new staff member who’s gonna really help take us to the next level.

All right, gotta wake-up in 4 1/2 hours!

Shalom.


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Ideation…You’re going right?

Chris Marlow —  March 29, 2010 — 1 Comment

This time last year, Charles Lee visited Austin, stayed at my house and we attended Q Austin. Needless to say, Charles and I have become friends (though, Charles is friends with basically everyone, everywhere, trust me on this)!

There’s no doubt that Charles is one dude who loves to connect with people, but maybe his greater passion is to connect people with one-another so they can help each other out. And this is really what Ideation is all about.

I think its safe to say that this conference is important. For those of us who lead, are apart of a non-profit, or for those who are dreaming about starting a non-profit, this will be an invaluable experience, a real rarity for deep connection, and learning from great leaders.

I also think Pastors/church leaders can learn a lot by attending Ideation. Mater-of-fact, I think it would be invaluable to spend time with leaders who lead outside the traditional walls of the church.

So, let me encourage you to attend, and if you’re there, please hit-me-up, and lets connect and find ways to help each other.

Also, if you use this code: blogger. You will get a $50 discount.


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Ideation…You’re going right?

Chris Marlow —  March 29, 2010 — Leave a comment

This time last year, Charles Lee visited Austin, stayed at my house and we attended Q Austin. Needless to say, Charles and I have become friends (though, Charles is friends with basically everyone, everywhere, trust me on this)!

There’s no doubt that Charles is one dude who loves to connect with people, but maybe his greater passion is to connect people with one-another so they can help each other out. And this is really what Ideation is all about.

I think its safe to say that this conference is important. For those of us who lead, are apart of a non-profit, or for those who are dreaming about starting a non-profit, this will be an invaluable experience, a real rarity for deep connection, and learning from great leaders.

I also think Pastors/church leaders can learn a lot by attending Ideation. Mater-of-fact, I think it would be invaluable to spend time with leaders who lead outside the traditional walls of the church.

So, let me encourage you to attend, and if you’re there, please hit-me-up, and lets connect and find ways to help each other.

Also, if you use this code: blogger. You will get a $50 discount.


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Verge 2010 is Close

Chris Marlow —  February 2, 2010 — Leave a comment

Can’t wait to attend Verge this week in Austin. I would love to connect and meet-up with anyone who is attending. I will be hosting the tweetup tomorrow night, serving on the social media team, speaking on the orphan care panel Saturday and HELP will have a booth set-up also. Below is a sample picture of the back-drop for the booth. We are getting close to launching our Garage Sale for Orphans initiative that will rescue homeless orphans!


Needless to say, it’s going to be a fun-filled, crazy few days, that includes much conversation about Jesus, missional living, and the church! Also, I can’t wait to see good friends, such as Jason Gore,Laurence Tom, Charles Lee, Brian Mayfield and a host of others.


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Verge Conference

Chris Marlow —  November 22, 2009 — Leave a comment

I’ve been asked by my friends at The Austin Stone to join the official social media team for the Verge Conference, which will be February 4-6 in Austin, TX.

Also, I will be there representing HELP as well. Should be a great few days.

Honestly, Austin Stone is one of m favorite faith communities. Of course Mangum is one of my best friends, Ivey Band and the word missional go hand-in-hand, Stew is a great thinker who is really encouraging the global church to grasp a legitimate missional DNA. I could go on and on.

All that to say, you won’t want to miss this conference, it’s going to be really good as we wrestle with what it means to be a legitimate missional church in N. America!

A few things:

1. If you’re planning on attending, let’s connect. Leave a comment!
2. Go here to follow Verge on Twitter.
3. Go here to register.

It’s gonna be fun!


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Idea Camp Recap

Chris Marlow —  September 4, 2009 — 1 Comment


Over the past year I’ve developed a friendship with a ninja…er...Charles Lee. Charles is a kingdom-builder, dreamer, collaborator, pastor and non-profit leader. He’s truly a great asset to the church. And when he reads this, I assume he will not like all this press. :-)

So Charles had this great Idea, he dreamed of this conference that is based on collaboration of the crowd, the focus would be conversation and Idea making, not presentation. Of course, he also did not want to charge a PENNY for folks to attend. “Ha, no way dude is pulling this off, right?” Well, he/we/they/all-of-us did pull it off and it was great. Charles had an Idea, but it took the crowd to rally and make it come alive, which is what makes it so great. An Idea started with one person, but then the crowd brought it to life.

Here are some of my thoughts on The Idea Camp-Jusice & Compassion:

I was SO encouraged by the mix in the crowd. There was definitely a multicultural flare which was beautiful and refreshing. Both male and female had a voice (this trend in conferences where it’s only men speaking drives me nuts), which was also encouraging. The Camp also had pastors, entrepreneurs (business and social), and non-profit leaders who work domestically and globally. It also had the “well known leaders” but mostly it was a bunch of normal folks who desire to make a difference.

The Church is making a difference in culture as we speak. It’s so easy to be cynical and criticize the church and fail to give God glory for the things that are right with the church. The Idea Camp brought all the good things the church is doing to the forefront, we should all be grateful for this.

Collaboration is taking place. Churches and Non-profits are working together. The Idea Camp was a glimpse that showed the Kingdom working through many avenues to bring redemption and justice within a gospel framework.

Passion and compassion are now becoming more of a “norm” in church cultures. We are starting to grasp that God cares for the global poor, thus the church should also!

At the Camp, I was asked to lead a workshop on “What I learned the first year of starting a non-profit.” We had a great turnout, lively discussion and significant connections were made.

I really enjoyed reconnecting with Erick, hanging with Bill and Randy, meeting new friends (like Jason), and finally meeting (previous social networking friends) Tom, LT, Todd and of course Nathan and his friend Sam.

All-in-all it was a great couple of days in DC. I left inspired, encouraged and more committed to seeking justice on behalf of the global poor.

Thanks to all the amazing people who did so much of the “behind-the-scenes” work, too many to name.

I hope to see he Idea Camp tribe in Portland, OR in November. This gives me a great excuse to get some Stumptown Coffee and spend a few days in Seattle.


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Post Q Conference Reflections

Chris Marlow —  April 30, 2009 — 1 Comment

Its close to 11PM and I’m physically dragging from a lack of sleep these past few days. I’m currently taking a few moments to decompress from the Q Conference as I listen to OTR’s Drunkard Prayer album.

These past three days I’ve spent time with some amazing leaders who have somewhat challenged my thinking and sparked some fresh creativity in my soul. The best part of the conference is not the conference itself, but the dedicated time of networking, conversations and friendship building that naturally take place.

I hope to share more of my thoughts about the conference in the next few days. But, my big takeaways are as follows:

1. Becoming fully human: Hmm, what does that even mean? Think about it, fully means “the best of the best,” we’ve captured something (humanity) in all of its fullness. Crap, that is truly convicting. Do I live my life day-to-day in a state that fully captures the purpose that God has for me? Am I truly embracing the presence of Jesus in my soul minute-by-minute? I think not!

2. Social Activism: I’m deeply encouraged by all the activism that is currently taking place in the church. Yes, we are in danger of allowing activism to become something greater than it should be. We can worship activism and not the Great Activist if we are not careful. But the truth of the matter seems that the church is waking-up and embracing our role to love, serve and sacrifice for the people who suffer at the hands of injustice!

New music alert: Just switched music to Zach Williams, do yourself a favor and check him out, great music.

3. Humility: I love that superstar leader types are becoming less and less as we continue to move towards a flat approach to leadership. There were some really “well known” leaders who spent a lot of times hanging out at the after parties and such. This is such a positive sigh that is desperately needed in the church.

4. The Local Church Expanded: I’ve been deeply wrestling with this thought as of late. What is the local church? Anyhow, I loved hanging out with sound techs, designers, business folks, architects, non-profit types, pastors, authors, engineers, musicians, etc! Good to see so many people trying to repurpose their lives for God’s glory and to improve humanity. Its truly beautiful to see so many people deeply care about others!

5. Collaboration: We need each other, there is little doubt that my single life can’t make a massive difference in our world. But, what if I play my role with dedication, focus and sacrifice? Is that not the beauty of the church, we’re all truly are under the leadership of Jesus and we all have been gifted in such a way as to glorify Jesus and create something beautiful in our world for his glory such as, great music, photography, speaking/teaching/preaching, art, design, strategy, etc. I could go on-and-on, but together we will bring more glory to God and more transformation to humanity!

So that is my initial “off-the-top-of-my-head” thoughts. If you went to Q leave a comment so we can virtually connect.


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