Have you heard Maxwell's story about teamwork?

At a Midwestern fair, many spectators gathered for an old-fashioned horse pull (an event where various weights are put on a horse-drawn sled and pulled along the ground). The grand-champion horse pulled a sled with 4,500 pounds on it. The runner-up was close, with a 4,400-pound pull. Some of the men wondered what the two horses could pull if hitched together. Separately they totaled nearly 9,000 pounds, but when hitched and working together as a team, they pulled over 12,000 pounds. -- John C. Maxwell. Maxwell 3-in-1: The Winning Attitude, Developing the Leaders Around You, Becoming a Person of Influence (Kindle Locations 1804-1807). Kindle Edition.

Reflecting on this, I got to wondering what would happen if several of us who have written on Sunday School in recent years were to join forces to do some training events together. Several names came to mind:

• David Francis, head of Sunday School for Lifeway and author of a Transformational Class: Transformational Church Goes to Sunday School and a number of other books on Sunday School.

• Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University, creator of Friend day, author of What Every Sunday School Teacher Should Know and What Every Pastor Should know About Sunday School.

• Allan Taylor, Minister of Education at First Baptist Church Woodstock and author of Sunday School in HD and The Six Core Values of Sunday School

• Steve Parr, Vice President for Evangelism and Sunday School for the Georgia Baptist Convention and author of Sunday School that Really Works and Sunday School That Really Responds.

• Myself, Josh Hunt author of Make Your Group Grow, You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less, Disciplemaking Teachers and Good Questions Have Groups Talking

The idea is that three of the five of us would speak at each event. I made a few phone calls and we are happy to announce the first All Star Sunday School Training Conference will be held February 17 - 18, 2012. It will be held at First Baptist Church, Indian Trail, near Charlotte, NC. Phil Stone and the North Carolina Baptist Convention is partnering with us in this. Cost will be $25, with an early bird discount for participants who sign up before February 1. Sign up will be available soon with First Baptist Indian Trail. Allan Taylor, Steve Parr and myself will be speaking at this event.

We have several more dates available in the Spring. We are looking for strong churches that are situated so as to draw a large crowd. We are hoping for at least 300 people at each event. We will also be looking for cooperation from the Association, surrounding Associations, as well as the State Convention to help with promotion.

 If you are interested in hosting an event, please contact me at  

Josh Hunt

575 650 4564

josh@joshhunt.com