Later in the week (early Friday morning or Thursday night) I’m headed over to Calvin College to attend my first Internet Ministry Conference.
Since this is my first real entry into "Christian internet world" I have a whole bag of assumptions. And since I’m going to the event to learn, network with fellow nerds, and evaluate if I’ll ever go back… I thought it would be best for me to just write out what I am expecting at the conference. Wouldn’t any good sociologist do the same?
Assumptions and pre-conference thoughts
Remember Revenge of the Nerds? The 1984 comedy where a group of nerds ended up living in a college frat house together… finding friendship while the "cool kids" ran around going to wild toga parties and picking on the defenseless nerds. Remember that movie? That’s about how I feel going into this. We’re a bunch of nerds, laptops in tow, Starbucks on our breath, and the latest Google Analytics of our website floating through our minds as we check into Calvin for 3 days of embracing our inner geek.
I expect to see "funny" t-shirts. I expect to see guys in ties. I expect to see folks wearing gear that represents their company/ministry. And I have a feeling there will be superhero’s represented. Can’t explain that one, just preparing myself for it. Superman, Spiderman, and others on adults… breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Looking over the schedule, I’m not sure what most of this has to do with YMX. It seems like stuff is either "way below" or "way above" of what I’m interested in. But I do see some useful stuff for romeochurch.com. But maybe I’ll be surprised? As far as "value" goes I’m hoping to get more out of it than what I’ve seen from the pre-conference stuff. There must be something more to it than I’m seeing.
I expect to meet a lot of new people. Being a newbie Alliance member also means that I expect to say "Youth Ministry Exchange is an online community for youth ministry volunteers and staff" a heck of a lot. And I expect to hear people say, "Oh, that’s nice" a lot as well.
I expect the release of Gospel.com to be a wow moment.
I’m looking forward to putting a lot of faces/email addresses together with the Gospel Communications staff. 
I’m hoping to find a place to sleep. So if anyone in Grand Rapids wants to hook me up I promise to be a good boy. Otherwise, I’ll be driving around looking for a place to sleep during breaks. Why is it that this always happens to me in Grand Rapids? If all else fails, I know a few good places to camp.
I’m hoping this isn’t one of those conferences which is a "you either know people or you don’t" kind of things. I am really hoping that people are friendly and welcoming… even to a newbie.
More than anything... I’m interested in figuring out how all the new stuff that’s out there… too much to list… is going to help me encourage our users at YMX reach people with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
That said, if I see a single person wearing a cape or a Darth Vader mask… I’m out.
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