Last week while manning our booth at the NACBA conference, a stranger came up to me and started asking deeper-than-usual booth questions. His name tag said ‘Rex’, and the last name was in small print, which I didn’t read at first. His inquiries were not the standard “how can you help our church?†or “what type of services do you provide?â€, but probing questions about trends and technology and what we are finding in our work with churches. After I rambled on a bit I saw his last name ‘Miller’. Then I wished I had shut up sooner. For those not familiar with Rex Miller, his book The Millennial Matrix has been very influential to those of us working to keep the church relevant to our changing culture. We have a chart from his book posted in our office which illustrates how communication has transitioned over time from an oral culture to a print culture to a broadcast culture and now to a digital culture. 
 The chart also shows the parallel path of change in the governing philosophy from mystical to modern to post-modern. You can check out his book site at http://www.millenniummatrix.com/ (we’ll have someone write a book review soon) or listen to one of his presentations on the subject at  http://books.leadnet.org/2007/03/the_next_media_.htmlÂ
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I’d have thought that I’d recognize Rex from the picture on his books and other promos I’ve seen, but…..he was wearing glasses, and had some grey hair. (We all look better and younger in our promo pictures, don’t we?) Appearances and expectations aside, his was the one keynote address I wanted to hear at the conference, and I missed it due to logistical ‘booth’ issues. Working a booth can really be a challenge. In addition to the set-up and break-down, there’s the happy face you need to wear full-time so as to not scare people away. On the flip side, if you seem too happy it scares people away for they see you as the over-exuberant salesman. It can really be exhausting, standing there and speaking with total strangers for hours. I am glad they give out name tags for these things, as my mental hard drive has reached its name-capacity limit.
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When the conference was over and I got back to the office, I had to tell my partner Jeff about meeting Rex, since he’s read his book and is a bit of a fan. Then I find out that Jeff had met him at the Worship Facilities Conference last year. Not only that, but Rex even e-mailed Jeff his Power Point presentation. (I love when people are interested in sharing their information to help others grow rather than protect their proprietary property.) So Jeff’s got one up on me once again! I guess I’ll just buy the CD of his message.
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The chance meeting of Rex reminds me of a conference in Boston a few years ago when I ran into another influencer.  I went into a Starbucks, and there was only one other person there: Erwin McManus. (And I did recognize him.) There is such a delicate balance at Starbucks between invading someone’s private moment of solace with a newspaper and interacting with them; you’re never sure what they want. Is the paper what they want and they are just being polite when they smile at you when you interrupt….or do they really want a conversation and the paper keeps them from looking too obvious. Consequently, my approach to Erwin was a bit timid – and awkward. “Hi! You’re Erwin McManus!†Do you ever take a moment to listen to what you’ve said after it has come out of your mouth? Who he is was kind of unmistakable, with a distinctive style to his jet black hair and thick rimmed glasses – along with the fact that he was to speak at the conference next door. Since he already knew who he was, all my statement served to do was prove that I had a firm grasp on the obvious. Erwin verified the truth and it was followed by an equally awkward silence on my end. I couldn’t think of how his books have challenged me to share this with. Heck; I couldn’t even remember the title of one of his books! Why do our minds go blank at times like this? I decided it was best for me to leave him to the paper; any more interaction and I might rub-off on the poor guy and mess up what he was going to speak about later on. So we each sipped our coffee with the mellow sounds of Starbucks music playing in the background. I think he enjoyed his coffee a bit more than I did. Maybe next time.
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Technorati Tags: RexMiller, TheMillenialMatrix, ChurchArchitects, TheMinistryCafe, NACBA
Just for the record, I had lunch the next day with Rex and he said, I met this really cool architect from Pennsylvania…
Really? Who was that? Also – I forgot to add to the card I sent you a ‘Thanks’ for the Accoustic Dimensions “Does Anyone Have a….” box. That’s a really cool idea, and very useful at confernces. Ironically, by the time you came by our booth, I had already snooped out a first aid kit because of a cut, and we bought packing tape. The only thing it was missing that we needed was a hacksaw. (I forgot the keys to our cases at the hotel!)
[...] One of the advantages of attending the NACBA conference each year is having an opportunity to meet new people and discuss new ministry concepts. As Todd mentioned in his latest post, Meeting an Influencer, one of the high points of this year’s conference for Todd and I was meeting Rex Miller. Another highlight was meeting Pastor Marty Baker, founder of SecureGive, and pastor of Stevens Creek Community Church. [...]