The Barela Family

We’re in day #2 of our national conference in Ft. Collins (CSU) and it has been a whirlwind! Long days but filled with good stuff. At the beginning of the summer we were really excited to come to CSU thinking it would be a mini vacation for Brian and I because we are kidless and we are in a beautiful place with so much to do. But about 1/2 through the summer Brian was asked to take on the responsibility of heading up the social media aspect of the conference and to be a part of a seminar on social media. The idea was to incorporate Facebook, texting and Twittter into the conference as another avenue for people at the conference to interact while the meeting is going on. People can text, twitter or chat on facebook and send there questions, thoughts etc. to the Tweet Deck, which Brian is heading up and get an answer, engage in deeper conversation, make new relationships. So far it’s been a pretty big hit. It’s a lot of work to sort through this information from 5000+ people but he is not doing it alone and it’s very cool to see this whole new level of  interaction. I really like it because younger staff (which sadly I have realized I am no longer) are more apt to engage on this platform than on any other. So more of the audience is being engaged. It is exciting to see Brian be in his element like this. I’ve just been sticking by his side, learning a lot and enjoying being with him.

Outside of working at the conference I have enjoyed the actual conference itself. We had the privilege to hear from Tim Keller who is a pastor in NYC. He is a pretty big name right now and doing amazing things in the Christian and non Christian world. His talks were great, I couldn’t take notes fast enough! I will share more soon about what I learned. Another thing I always look forward to at CSU is the worship. There is nothing like worshiping with 5000 others. I love it.

Side note we are missing the kids but they are doing great! Everyone has been fine and they are being kept busy by Grandma and Pa. We just got off the phone with the Little Mister. He sounds older in just the 2 days we’ve been gone:) Although we are missing them we are taking full advantage of not having kids here and eating late dinners and hanging out with friends way past bed times!

Here are some pics from our time.

Here we are sitting at the Tweet Deck…”working”

Tim Keller giving one of his amazing talks.

Brian was a part of a seminar today all about social media and how it is so useful in ministry.