Summit 2016: Pushpay Hosts First Annual Conference

Summit 2016 Recap

The first Summit conference happened on June 24th and, as some of the attendees told us….

“This was one of the better conferences I have attended. The practical application information was great.”
“I was energized by the conference. The panelists were thoughtful and insightful, I came home with a lot to process!”
“I just wanted to thank you again for such a great experience at the Summit event. Exceptional speakers.. couldn’t have done better! The hosting of the panels, brilliant! Loved the questions, the flow, the set up for ‘over the top’ content from each panel speaker.”

This one-day, panelist-driven conference was held at Hotel Irvine in front of a packed room of pastors from all over the country. Pastors shared the nuts and bolts of leading a growing church and also being open and honest about past failures, what keeps them up at night, and what they’re currently trying to figure out.

Our Incredible Panelists

Erwin Raphael McManus spoke directly to executive and lead pastors, challenging the room that….

“You cannot create the future when you plant yourself in the past.”

Erwin also took some Q&A with Esecutive Pastor, Lawrence Fudge, about their relationship, to which one attendee shared….

“My favorite part was actually the format with Erwin and his Exec Pastor. It was great to have a short-concise thought about the specific topic, followed up by some practical conversation about how he executes some of what he shared.”

Panelists ranged from churches of all sizes and locations. Chad Veach (with mic) leads a 9 month old church of 700 in LA while Ryan Cameron (to his right) leads at Champions Centre, an over 30-year-old church in Seattle with over 4,000 attendees. Blue Van Dyke, of Christ’s Church of the Valley near Phoenix, AR, shared cutting-edge practices drawn from his twenty years in business, and Shane Duffey (far right) shared the highs and lows of leading a church with 17 campuses.

And what’s a conference without free swag?!? Our goal was to be different from the many church conferences, and it seems we achieved that. “Your hospitality was amazing. The venue very professional. Great food. Great swag. You even covered the cost of valet parking. That part was amazing.”

What It’s All About

As a company established on generosity, that theme carried throughout the day. Here’s one of the generosity-themed videos available for pastors to download for free at givelikegodgives.com. At the end of the day, the event was not about a product, swag, or lights: It’s to help church leaders be more equipped at what they’re called to do. One pastor told us, “I really appreciate that it wasn’t a Pushpay commercial. I loved the videos you played. I genuinely felt like the purpose of the conference was to help me get better. Loved the opportunity to network.”

From left to right, our panelists Michael Mullikin of NewSpring, Todd Lane of Gateway, Scott Thornton of LIFE, and Rick Holliday of North Point Community Church shared about Executive Pastor Excellence. One of Todd’s nuggets from the day, “Ministry is people, processes and programs staying in alignment for God to bless.” So good!

As our first conference came to a close, Chris Heaslip, Pushpay Co-founder and CEO, ended the day with sincere thanks. Only a few years into this journey, and having learned a lot from serving 4,000+ churches, we’re grateful for the opportunity to impact ministries by helping them increase generosity at their church.

When the day ends and everyone returns home, it’s feedback like this that makes it all worth it.
“Your investment is really going to help me personally but more importantly, it’s going to help our church and our community more than you will ever know! I’m sure you invested heavily in a financial way, but know the attention to detail, the level of excellence, and the commitment to helping the church was more than accomplished.”

Looking Forward

Our goal was to facilitate practical conversations with today’s leading churches to gain insight you could apply the very next day with your staff. We hope for many more opportunities to help encourage and equip you as you go about the hard work of planting seeds and growing your church.