For eight years I have been a part of an amazing think tank and creative leader conference called cre:ate (recreate) in Franklin, TN. Randy Elrod and his wife Chris have founded not just an environment that challenges, encourages and catapults a group of leaders but they have created a real community of influencers who are shaping the local church in America and beyond.

One benefit is having filmmakers, authors and talented musicians as part of this group along with experiences in a setting that is small—the max size ever is 150 people. Being able to dialog with authors like Ian Morgan Cron and gifted communicators like Ken Davis proved to make this past year as memorable as the rest.

Randy knows the power of community. The authenticity and safety of this environment gives the air needed to breath dreams. I have so much to unpack and journal regarding the powerfully impacting time taking the Eucharist or hearing Randy’s lecture “The Cure of the Blessing” as well as most of the other content. The advantage I have is that there are friends all over the world now sharing this experience with me until next time and with twitter, tokbox and skype we will do it together.

More to come about this experience. If you were part of cre:ate, did I get his right? If not, does a conference like this intrigue you?