My post from yesterday elicited a couple of comments asking for further information about the Moody Pastors’ Conference going on this week. It wasn’t my intention to be unhelpful, but I was. So, thanks, Jarrod and PastorM. You asked good questions. Here are my answers.
I saw no Twittering–in the sessions I was in, there were not even any laptops. A pretty low-tech crowd.
As for diversity, I was actually impressed by the racial makeup. Based on my unscientific observation, I would say the Moody conference was more ethnically diverse that Catalyst and NPC. Significant numbers of Hispanic and black participants. I can’t say anything about the international makeup–I met a Canadian. Other than that, I don’t know.
The majority of the breakout sessions were issues and/or methods focused–how to grow your church, increase giving, responding to homosexuality, etc.
As for the “hidden curriculum,” I’d say the difference in Catalyst and Moody could be described like this: At Catalyst, all the talk was about contextualization and mission. At Moody, it was about doctrine and faithfulness. That observation is based on John Piper’s presentation on Tuesday night and the audience’s response to him.
As for women, no–there was very little female participation. In fact,
at one point in Piper’s presentation, he addressed us as “brothers.” Then he said, “I know there are women here, but I’m talking to pastors.” The clear assumption is that pastor = male.
