I'm in Nashville, Tenn., attending the MinistryCOM convention, which is for Christian communications professionals. About 300 people are here, and most work for megachurches. Good people, passionate about what they do, and highly competent. Seriously, these are some way-competent folks.
In one workshop, the leader asked how many of us were the entire communications staff. About one-third of the hands went up. He said, "Your job is difficult, because nobody else understands what you do." That describes most of my career. Except for a couple years in the early 1980s, and six months in 2006, I've had no one with whom to "talk shop." My coworkers and superiors appreciate what I do, but they aren't conversant in my skills (writing, graphic design, web design). That's the way it goes. I'm the only United Brethren person here, period. I'm not sure we have any communications fulltimers on staff at any of our churches.
But many of the MinistryCOM attendees come from churches with an entire communications staff. I ate lunch with a trio from a Wisconsin church--the woman communications director, the web guy, and a graphics guy. I enjoyed being able to converse knowledgeably with each one, since those areas are all strengths for me. That's what happens after years and years of having to do everything yourself. You're forced to accumulate additional expertise.
This is only the third MinistryCOM convention. There are quite a few first-timers this year, which is nice. I attended last year's convention in Phoenix and profited tremendously from it. It took little time for me to realize, "This is a conference I must attend every year."
As is the case at any Christian (or secular) conference, plenty of individuals stand around by themselves. They came alone, like me. We stand against the walls or in corners. Or, this being a group of communications people, open up a laptop and check email. It's too easy to disappear into your computer, which is like erecting a big "Do Not Disturb" sign to fend off social advances. I tried to connect, but couldn't. During the morning, I sat beside another Mac guy; he snagged a connection, but I couldn't. Go figure. Probably too many people logging on. A number of people mentioned their inability to connect, though not in a complaining way. Church people are adept at complaining, but I haven't noticed that here. Of course, I'm not exactly plugged in.
The break times are great. They have Nature's Valley Sweet and Salty Nut granola bars. I tried one. Yum. I took another. In the afternoon, I took two more and ate them before the concluding session.
Now I'm back in my Ramada Limited hotel room, with my full-barred wireless signal. I called Pam at music practice, and now I'm ready to head out to the Nashville Table Tennis club, which meets on Thursday nights. Some southern rednecks are gonna get the chance to whomp on a Yankee.
Postscript three hours later: The table tennis club wasn't what I expected. Of the 12 guys there, 9 were Asian, most of them very good. One guy had a 2500 rating, another was over 2000, and their US Top Ten player was absent (his wife was having a baby). Nevertheless, I played extremely well, and ended up with a 3-2 record. Very fun. Sure beat any alternatives I had for the evening.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
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