I feel like I have been attacked by a machine gun full of ideas.

Normally when you go to some kind of conference there are a few ideas that you pick up, a few nuggets of wisdom that you enjoy.  But the Q Conference?  I’ve just been pelted with truth and idea and concept and story and dream and vision.  This is day one.  I’m not sure my little head can make room for the presentations on Thursday.  Or Friday.

So, I’m going to attempt to pour out some of these ideas into written word so I can hopefully remember some of what hit me today.  I have 14 pages of notes… on day one… and I am NOT a note taker.

We arrived right before 10, got registered and found a seat in the balcony, and then the event began.  The first presenter was Gabe Lewis, the organizer of the Q Conference and the Fermi Project.  Their goal is to put focus on four things:

                culture | future | church | gospel

                Culture is everything around us, broken down into 7 channels.  In no particular order: media, arts & entertainment, business, education, government, church, and the social sector.

                Without having much time to think it through, I’m able to accept these 7 channels as a basis for the conversation we’re having this week.  I’m not sure what I would add to it off the top of my head… but we’re moving at such a velocity that this is something that we almost have to accept for the week.  If these are the channels of influence, it would be interesting to explore how they intersect in my life, my church’s life, and the life of my workplace.

                Great quote from one of the slides: “Your actions today actually create the future.”  Lewis uses this time to introduce the idea that everything is going green.  As such, to save paper waste, they have provided us with water bottles.

                I agree that every business is becoming more and more green.  This is import to my generation, and they seek out companies that aren’t green – even Apple is a major target of protestors.  I’m curious how long it will be until churches and Christian organizations will be hounded by protestors upset that we’re supposed to be the example of gardeners in the land God has given us, but we waste so much paper with bulletins and energy keeping empty churches warm.

                I thought it was good of Lewis to move on this subject quickly; Kevin Kelly was presenting only an hour or so later and he would more than supply some conversation for the future.

                According to Lewis, when the church is operational, it has the most potential to shape culture.

                I think the key here is that we as church leaders and influences understand and acknowledge that there is this concept of other cultural “channels.”  I like that Lewis is not at all afraid to say that the church has the most potential to shape culture, and should be shaping culture.  It’s good to hear some positive words about the potential of this Bride of Christ, instead of the continual deconstruction of it.  I think it’s also good to that he puts on the requirement that for the church to have that potential, it must first be operational and healthy.

                One of the prevailing themes of the Fermi Project is that we have diluted the Gospel into an individualistically-focused half truth.  We are getting half the story, not the whole story.  In the half-story, it’s all about us and our sin.  In the whole story, it’s about the cycle of sin and the redemption of the world.

And that, my friends, was only the first 18 minutes.