Congratulations Ben!

"I don't know what Ringo did." Once again, the drummer gets no respect.

I don't know Ben. It's kind of hard to feel sorry for you. It's Chicago after all. :)

To any of the applicants reading this, I would just add to what Ben has written that the story of Joseph in the Old Testament will probably parallel what your experience will be like. Joseph had big dreams. But he had to deal with nightmares (being sold by his brothers into slavery, falsely being accused of rape, thrown in prison) before his dreams came true. It won't be an easy journey, but it will be worth it.

Awesome. I was going to ask how I could get more of these. We live in such a digital world, but I think there are times when people are more apt to take a closer look at something when they can physically hold in their hands. I'm going to give these to church leaders in town.

Well, I guess I will make the drive up to Atlanta when you go there which I assume is a given. Right? :)

Of course there are no direct flights from ORF to Florida. I hate this state.

The Case for Faith is actually quite good though it is a documentary so I don't even think it should be listed here. Here's a question: Why isn't 'The Book of Eli' listed? I guarantee they wouldn't qualify it as Faith & Spirituality movie though it expresses the value of prayer better than any of the lame Left Behind movies ever could.

IMO = in my opinion :)

"My job is to help them not lose heart and keep their eyes fixed on Jesus." That's the best part of this entire post IMO.

Umm..need a photographer for this event? This sounds awesome. I've enjoyed watching some of the videos from The Gospel Coalition with Pastors talking shop so this should be great.

I am so looking forward to this. The week of January 17th is huge for me. Career transition to self employment starts on the 17th and then hitting the road on the 20th for Nashville. I feel like a little kid anticipating Christmas.

Every boss needs to ask: "What about me frustrates my team?" No one else can safely ask that question. Hah! My boss would never ask himself that question because he doesn't think on that level. That's part of why I'm leaving in 3 weeks and going out on my own.

My offer of $50 to somebody still stands, so this is an opportunity for one person to save $100. Not sure how you want to handle that Ben, but it's there.

I can't pay full price for somebody to attend the Dream Year Weekend, but I am willing to contribute $50 to somebody that wants to attend. 4 more people jump in and you can give away a ticket to somebody.

I don't know what those 8bit guys do either and I've worked with them.

That's great. Number 11 literally made me laugh out loud.

This is great Ben. I am signed up to attend the retreat in January. To be honest, I keep getting to the end of the Dream Year application (I've started to fill it out about 7 or 8 times) and then after a while, I close out my browser. To be 100% honest, the thing holding me back more than anything is the money. $2400 is not a lot for what is offered, but considering I am leaving my full time job at the end of this month to go out on my own (doing IT consulting and photography), the 'fear factor' is so hard to get beyond. Oh well. I have a day to get over it.

I made it official. Ordered my Dream Year Weekend ticket this morning. I'm really excited about this. Look forward to meeting you Ben!

Ben, Chicago is fine by me. It's a great city. I was just asking about the history of the event and what made you choose Chicago.

This may have been asked before, but why Chicago?

One of them is a real deviant. Right Justin? :) Another one I recognize is Jerry Miner. I don't know him, but will have a chance to connect with him at the Catalyst Bloggers Meetup Wednesday evening.

Interesting about 'Blue Like Jazz.' It's true though. If it would make a good movie, why can't they find somebody to bankroll it?

If you grew up in a legalistic church and now spend your time writing satire about it, we get it, we got it. Yaaawn. I love this.

I wish stuff like this would come to Florida. Really. Anyway, Ben you want to fix that Whiteboard link as you have it going to whiteboard.co