Contact: Jesse Medina, The Well, 719-362-5234, jmedina@dotheword.org
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Nov. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- November 4 marks the beginning of the National Outreach Convention, an annual three-day event that attracts thousands of church leaders from around the country with training on outreach and evangelism. House church leader Ken Eastburn believes the convention is the response to a problem within the wider church community, "We go to conventions for one of two reasons: either we're lacking in training or we've been trained in the wrong way. For most of us, it is the latter."
The National Outreach Convention will be hosted in San Diego, CA and is being put on by Outreach Magazine. Keynote speakers for 2009 include Efrem Smith, Ed Stetzer, Joel Hunter, and Stacy Spencer among others. This year will also feature 50 breakout sessions to choose from, with each one being led by a big name in church culture.
"We've been trained to think about outreach all wrong," says Eastburn, "Until recently, outreach was more like in-reach: inviting people to come in to the church, following up with those who have filled out reply cards, and loving those who are already sitting in our pews -- the ones we're neglecting are the ones who need us the most. The Church needs to recapture what it means to exist for the benefit of those outside its walls."
Eastburn is a leader with The Well, a network of home-based churches in California and Colorado. Members of The Well are encouraged to reach out to their respective communities without the motif of bringing people in to the church.
Eastburn notes, "There's a problem when you only love people with the hope that they will join your church, and most people can see right through that. Love for love's sake is rare these days, but the National Outreach Convention is changing that."
The Well hosts 10-15 members on a weekly basis at each of its five locations, including some individuals who also continue to participate in traditional church settings. Eastburn and other members post their experiences on a blog maintained by the church, www.leavethebuildingblog.com, with the purpose of interacting with individuals from traditional and house church backgrounds.
