Octavio Martinez

The IMN immersion…the ideas, conversations and
friendships…continue to reverberate in my life four years later.

I came to the IMN looking for a roadmap, but received something
more powerful: permission to travel.

–Octavio Martinez, Mosaic co-pastor (Los Angeles)

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Dean Sharp

Engagement with the IMN is a trajectory changing adventure. I
don’t know of a single individual—including myself—whose
perspectives, objectives and productivity have not undergone
significant orbital shifts as a result of their time with the
cohort.

It’s truly rare to find a leadership experience where focused
intentionality embraces creativity and collaboration, but such is
the uniqueness of the IMN and its founder, Alex McManus. Many
leaders fancy themselves as forward-thinking or future-oriented,
but having enjoyed a close friendship with Alex for many years now
I can confidently reveal that he actually lives in the future and
only travels back on occasion to check in with the rest of us. I am
grateful for him and for the IMN, a “band of brothers” (and
sisters) that I have the honor of naming among my dearest friends.
– Dean Sharp, Thousand Oaks, California

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Mike Harris

Mike Harris
Lake Orion, Michigan

The IMN experience exploded my biblical theology of mission in
ways that has moved my own life, as well as my church community,
from being “missionary minded” to being “on mission with
Jesus.”

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Matt Johnson

The IMN breathed fresh air into my own ministry and theology.
It’s revived and given new shape to a theology of humanity and
transformation that had gone stale while at the same time reminding
me that Jesus didn’t come for Christians, he came for people.
Truly, because of my experience in the IMN I will spend the rest of
my life seeking people from all nations. Safe return is doubtful,
but I wouldn’t have it any other way. — Matthew Johnson

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Russ Murphy

Three words say it all.

Tribe – there is nothing that compares to connecting with
like-minded people who have a similar sense of destiny and
urgency…even if they live on the other side of the earth; it’s a
community, not a classroom.

Engagement – you have real time with real people, with
real hearts and true stories, pushing you and stretching you to
engage your culture and create a brilliant future.

Innovation – The IMN is not about preserving the past or
protecting a legacy; it’s concerned with what is next. It’s a world
of ideas, dreams and possibilities; Alex McManus and the IMN are
people that are captivated by the future, not frozen in the past.
–Russell Murphy (Australia)

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Patrick Voo

The IMN goes beyond a coalition of like-minded would-be heroes
… it’s an entire reality web. Thanks in large part to Alex’s
huge-hearted, perceptional leadership, those of us who have had the
opportunity to attend The HUMAN EVENT conference, participate in
the 7-Day Mentoring Immersion, or conspire with the Makers of Fire
have been shifted in thinking and life mission closer to the
Kingdom trajectory.

No IMN experience is reproducible, just as Heraclitus offered
that no one can step into the same river twice. Yet there’s a
kinetic energy there that moves everyone who wanders or thrusts
themselves toward an extraordinary, God-intended future. –Patrick
Voo (Canada)

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Sam and Rachel

Me and Rachel have been part of the IMN since 2006. Having the
IMN week each year to participate in has been such an incredible
help for us on our journey. It has felt like a real lifeline to be
honest. We used to be worried that we were crazy with the thoughts
and ideas we had for church, mission, and serving humanity. Now we
know that we ARE crazy…but that we are not alone. We feel like
through the IMN we have joined forces with people all over the
globe who are prepared to experiment, explore, and not be afraid to
take risks. Having permission to fail has been hugely releasing. By
ourselves we might not have had that. But through the IMN, we feel
like we have that permission and that has propelled us forward in
ways that we might never have otherwise dared.

As well as the thought provoking teaching and mentoring, through
the IMN we have built some amazing friendships. We have so much fun
when we’re together. Food and laughter have been a wonderful and
enriching aspect of the IMN that are a huge part of our enjoyment
of the whole experience. It feels like we now have a network of
co-conspirators all around the world that we could not afford to be
without. –Sam and Rachel, Sheffield (UK)

Listen to "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8maHvoQVYls&feature=channel_page">
Sam and Rachel Radford talk about their experiences in the
IMN’s signature Mentoring Immersion.

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Joseph Thompson

There was something almost “mystical” about the HUMAN EVENT.
Amazingly, I only attended because I’d developed a long distance
friendship with Eric Bryant, and we agreed that this would be a
great opportunity for us to connect.

The experience was nothing if not eye-opening. I met some of the
most amazing leaders (some of whom didn’t even recognize themselves
as leaders), hungry and passionate for a conversation and a
strategy for impacting their culture and building enduring faith
communities.

If you wanted a conference with hermetic perspectives, this was
not it. If you were looking for a group of people declaiming the
next great wave of revival, you wouldn’t have found it here. In
fact, this was a refreshingly different format from the usual
‘expert’ versus ‘learner’ approach that most conferences seem to
employ.

One of the new buzz words among today’s Christian is the word
‘conversation,’ which often really means a one sided dialog. H2.09
was actually a conversation between like-minded people exchanging
ideas with a view to becoming better at what they do.

We live in a culture that seems to thrive on schadenfreude, so
it was refreshingly different to hear a perspective that encourages
experimenting in translating the message of Christ, knowing that we
will sometimes fail, while learning new methods in the process.

I like the fact that H2.09 was not the same tired old routine of
a group of ‘seasoned ministers’ spewing nocuous venom at
participants who are honestly looking to make a difference in their
communities, while they try to pawn their latest bestseller on how
to become as successful as them! So, if you’re looking for a
starting point in having a conversation about God in a world that
is largely unresponsive to the way the message has been
communicated, then drop what you’re doing right now and make a mad
dash over to a Human Event somewhere near you. — Joseph Thompson
Lake Mary, Florida

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Geoffrey Baines

It’s now my third year of experiencing the IMN. From expansive
ideas that are stimulated and generated, to the power of
developing, affirming, and encouraging relationships, the whole
thing has had an amplifying and multiplying affect on my life and
purpose – I honestly cannot think of anything that compares with
how this impacts life.. (Geoffrey Baines: a Methodist minister
imagineering in Edinburgh)

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Debbie Canzansios

There are so many options for all of us as Christian’s leaders
to help us grow personally and as communities of faith. There is a
smorgasbord of ‘how to’ workshops and ministry retreat weekends.
IMN however is different and no surprise it was more transformation
for me than I could have ever imagined. For those of you who have
completed an Emmaus or Chrisio experience, I would say that this
had the similar result, different experience. I came away
understanding with greater clarity and depth, the leader God has
created me to be as we looked at our strengths, gifts, experience
and what it means to live in human community together as followers
of Christ.

Alex McManus has been the formative innovator of ministry in
Christ following communities for years. Having the opportunity to
learn under this kind of leadership was truly a gift to me and the
team who participated in the IMN Cohort 2009. Alex uses his
superpowers to energize leaders, drawing out of them their own
superpowers and creating space for spiritual energy to create
momentum for each person’s ministry. Alongside of other innovative
leaders, IMN uses everything it has to challenge leaders and draw
out of them potential ministry taking it to its most forward degree
finding ways to can make the world more human again.

During our time together I developed a great passion to help
others discover how to live their best human self. I also deepened
my appreciation of how God might use community to impact the
Kingdom if we actually developed, strengthened and applied our
strengths in human community together. Often times I think many of
us feel like we have to ‘fit’ in somewhere or somehow to connect to
the Spirit of God. What I came to realize is that we don’t have to
‘fit’ in anywhere but we all can belong somewhere in community with
each other.

Debbie Casanzio