What Is It about Christianity21?

What Is It about Christianity21? January 14, 2014

Paul Soupiset sketches at Christianity21. (Courtney Perry)

Before last week, Doug and I hadn’t run a Christianity21 conference since 2009. We’d run some others — both our own and in partnership with others — and some had gone quite well. We’d also run dozens of Social Phonics Boot Camps during that time. But people kept asking us to run another C21. Those requests came both from people who were at the first C21, and from those who’d heard about it over the years.

We knew that we didn’t have the bandwidth to resurrect C21 alone, so Sarah Cunningham came on board as the event’s producer. Christianity21 is more high-maintenance than other conferences because there are 21 speakers in just over 48 hours, and there are another 40+ 7-21 Talks (those talks are 7 minutes long). We could not — nay, would not — have run C21 without Sarah.

Sarah Cunningham giving some announcements. (Courtney Perry)

As Doug noted in the closing talk of the event, between Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, attendees heard nearly 9 hours of content. Add to that the myriad conversations, new books purchased, and Heatherlyn songs sung, and the treasure of input was unparalleled.

Enjoying the “underground” 7-21 Talks at Christianity21. (Courtney Perry)

Never have Doug and I produced an event that was so unequivocally appreciated by all in attendance. Something magic happened over the weekend in Denver — something that we couldn’t plan for or make happen. Surely something that we could not manufacture. But something about the way that the various talks — both long (21 minutes) and short (7 minutes) — wove together a tapestry of beauty.

Charles Lee talked about innovation at Christianity21. (Courtney Perry)
Amy Jacober and child listen to a talk at Christianity21. (Courtney Perry)

So, the question remains as to whether we’ll run C21 again next year. If you’d like us to, I’d appreciate a comment in that regard. Also, let us know who you’d like to hear present. Doug, Sarah, and I all have full lives, and we run events on the side. So it’s never easy to decide how to go forward. Let me know what you think.


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