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Probably not – I’m still thinking and wrestling and chewing on the stuff I heard while I was there… And as I said, I’ll probably post some more when the dvd’s get here.
Brian Houston, Pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, had a phenomenal message on empowering people…
He showed a photo he had taken in Africa of an elephant. He wanted to include himself in the picture, so he held the camera up at arms length and snapped the pic. He got back in the vehicle and looked at the photo and found that his head filled 90% of the frame and the elephant could not be seen at all…
The only way to miss an elephant is if you’re too big in the frame. Some people cannot empower others because they’re too big in the frame.
Serve others. Practice taking second place.
Develop a culture of permission. Say “yes” more often to people, ideas, initiatives.
Empowerment is not about independence – it’s about interdependence.
There’s a balance between grace and ’stretch’ – between acceptance and challenge.
A leader must have a heart for lifelong learning… Honor the old and promote the new.
Bishop T. D. Jakes, Pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, TX. Frankly, Bishop Jakes was the presenter in this year’s conference that I had heard the least and knew the least about. Some of you will no doubt wonder how that’s possible, but each of us has a “radar” that gets hit a little differently by different people.
After hearing Bishop speak Friday morning, all I can say is I’ve missed out on a lot! His message was on “The Order of the Breaking of Bread” from Jesus’ encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus…
You haven’t begun to preach until you’re controversial.
Quit trying to be liked, and start being faithful.
People generally admire their leaders best after they’re dead!
The beginning of true leadership is to know you don’t know as much as you think you know.
Don’t burn the school down because you think you’ve graduated.
You can’t lead people who aren’t thirsty.
The Lord can become what we need… Lord, abide with us until we see You bigger than our circumstances and situation.
They saw Jesus when He broke the bread – people see Jesus in simple things.
The pattern of the Lord “taking, breaking, blessing, and giving” is repeated over and over in the Word.
The breaking stage is the real blessing stage.
If you want to be a leader, don’t show me your successes – show me your brokenness.
One of my favorite comedians, Stephen Colbert, riffing on one of my favorite places, Starbucks, about the now-infamous “3 Hour Shutdown”…
Click HERE to watch…
Note: The video gets PG-13 for a couple of seconds near the end, otherwise it’s ok.
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I wasn’t joking when I told some folks it will take me three weeks to process everything I saw and heard at the Creative Church Conference last week. I’ve got a couple more posts in the works – and maybe even more when I get to watch the conference dvd’s I ordered…
Here are some highlights from Tommy Barnett, Pastor of First Assembly of God in Phoenix, AZ. He spoke on the topic of wanting to quit the ministry:
The nature of the ministry is that when you’re in, you want out, and when you’re out, you want back in!
Wanting to quit is a sign of success – if you’re not successful, there’s nothing to quit.
It’s better to try and fail than to not try at all. Now, I’m not for rising and falling – but I’m also not for never rising.
The more you have to quit, the more you want to quit.
Starbucks has kept me in the ministry – until the anointing comes, we’ve got Starbucks!
Do not expose yourself to what you don’t want to be. (Scott says: That one line was worth the total cost of the trip to me…)
Great men are ordinary men who refused to quit.
More to come…
David Foster is pastor of The Gathering in Nashville, TN. His blog has quickly become one of my favorite “must reads.” Recently, he said:
Religion is about drawing smaller boxes. Christianity is about drawing bigger circles. Religion is about who is out. It’s about lines and boundaries of those who stand on one side or the other. Christianity, on the other hand, is about drawing circles as is seen in the command of Jesus, to go out in the highways and hedges and compel anyone who would be willing to come in. It was also affirmed in many of his stories. This is a “whosoever will” message and should be opened up.
You can read the entire post HERE
Somewhere in my travels last week I caught a nasty cold/flu thing, so I’ve been self-medicating and sleeping alot. I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging, so here are some more highlights of the C3 conference:
Mac Richard (pronounced “rishARD”) is pastor of Lake Hills Church in Austin Texas…
“There is a tension between community and responsibility.”
“When someone loves you , they will hold you accountable.”
“Leaders are shaped under the hammer and the heat.”
“Measure the stuff that matters.”
Perry Noble is pastor of NewSpring Church of Anderson, SC…
“Pastors and ministry leaders sometimes buy into the lie that what we do doesn’t matter – Not true! We are called to serve in the only organization on this earth established by Jesus Christ Himself…”
“If you’re pastoring a church you wouldn’t attend if you weren’t the pastor – you’ve got problems.”
“If the tomb is empty, our churches should reflect it and every Sunday should be an absolute blowout celebration of the resurrected Lord!”
“You’re only as deep as the last person you served in Jesus’ name.”
“Do the people who show up at our church see Jesus? That’s all that matters.”
Next time I’ll cover Tommy Barnett and T. D. Jakes…
I’m sitting here with the conference 3/4’s over and my head and heart are so full I’m not sure I can take anymore!
I can say without reservation that the Creative Church Conference is the best conference I have ever been to – and I’ve been to a bunch of ‘em. To my pastor and ministry leader friends who read my blog – and I so love and appreciate you guys – you have GOT to get to this conference! C3 2009 is February 19-20 at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.
I have to say I got a different conference than I anticipated… I was looking for ideas, “how-we-did-it’s,” and “how to’s.” What I got was a time of refreshing and encouragement and support that what we do in the church is the most important work in the world. I have wept and chuckled, winced when the truth kicked me in the shins, and nodded my head and said “Amen!” more times than I can count. More than anything, God has opened my eyes to the amazing possibilities that can come from faithfulness and a willingness to be used and empowered by Him.
I can’t do any of the speakers justice and keep my word count under 5K, but here are some highlights. These are from my notes and in most cases not direct quotations:
Ed Young on betrayal, brokenness and being in a pit like Joseph:
“Everyone of us is either pre-pit, in the pit, or post-pit… Pit happens.”
“Sometimes God will break you down, so He can break you out and break you through to a new level.” He wants to move us from ‘Why me?’ to ‘What Next?’”
“Only those who are close to us can betray us. Our enemies can’t betray us, only those who love us can. (Quoting Bishop T. D. Jakes)‘There’s always a Judas at the table, close enough to kiss ya…’”
“In a pit, we can choose to either look down and around or to look up to God.”
“In betrayal, the devil is tipping us off to blessings in the future, waiting around the corner.”
“The pit is ‘character school’. Joseph’s talents and abilities took him to places his character couldn’t keep him at first. He wasn’t developed enough or mature enough until he went through his pit experiences. Character and talent have to ’sync up’ before we can advance to the next level.”
“We’re in a sprint, not a marathon… Joseph spent 12 years in an Egyptian prison, being prepared the entire time to be Prince of Egypt. God builds patience and endurance in us when we’re in the pit.”
Whew and amen! More later…
Wednesday afternoon, I’ll board a plane bound for the Creative Church Conference at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.
I am pumped! Fellowship is led by one of my favorite “T.V. preachers,” Ed Young, Jr., and the line-up of speakers features some of the most innovative church leaders in America… and Australia: Perry Noble, Tommy Barnett, Brian Houston, just to name a few.
I’m not so pumped about flying… Funny, I did it regularly as part of my previous job for a number of years, but that was primarily pre-9/11. Oh well, I will wash down a couple of Benadryl’s with a warm cup of SleepyTime tea, and just hope I don’t snore so loud that they put me off the plane…
I may blog briefly from Dallas, and I will definitely give a full recap when I get back.
Blessings to all. Please pray for my safe travel, and for Vic and the boys as they try to make it a couple of days without their “lovable lug.”
A terrific day with the Lord’s people! The “bug” that’s going around kept some folks at home, including our drummer and his family, but worship continues to get better and better. We also had some visitors, and that’s always great.
The message was on “The Harvest.” We looked at Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:35-38,
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
We were challenged to see the people, feel genuine compassion for them, and recognize their true condition and thus what they truly need. We saw that the harvest is plentiful – there are people in need all around us, but the workers are few. We need to pray that God will send workers.
We also talked about the importance of change. We saw that “if you want what you’ve never had, you’ve got to do what you’ve never done.” And we were challenged to pray that God will do things we’re not used to!
We continue to pray for Alice’s son, Doug, as he recovers from the terrible accident he was involved in. We also pray for Dale M.’s diagnosis and treatment. And we were blessed to be able to pray over Tom and Kathy as they prepare to go back to Mayo for Kathy’s surgery. Please set aside time each day to offer prayers for these folks.
The chili supper is Saturday… I’m looking forward to eating some good food and winning a few games! I’ll be in Dallas Wednesday through Saturday for the Creative Church Conference, but I’ll be home in plenty of time for chili!
God bless y’all. Have a great week!
I’ll admit it has taken me a little while to get used to Indiana weather… Where else can you experience a 53 degree temperature drop in a 12 hour period? Where else can you help shovel snow before Wednesday night Bible study and then seriously consider running the air conditioner on Sunday morning? It was 62 degrees at 3:30 PM yesterday – and as I write this Monday morning, we are experiencing a mini “white out.” But we supposed to get less than an inch today…
Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on its smiling face a dream of spring. — Phil Connors
No snow falling and the promise of a warming trend brightened things up considerably on another “Super” Sunday here at Jubilee…
Sunday was the fifth week of our “Life on Loan” church-wide experience. One of our leaders said, “The book is great, the sermons have been great – this has been a very good way to start our year!” Amen to that, and I agree (o.k., I’m a little harsher judge of the sermons, but other than that, I agree).
The message was “Learning to Love” based on what is sometimes know as Jesus’ “second greatest commandment,” to love our neighbor as ourselves. Among other things, we saw that (1) Loving others is not an option, it’s an expectation; (2) Loving others proves that we are connected to God; and (3) Loving others showcases God’s glory to the world. We talked about the practical side of loving others, and found that we can get off to a great start by(1) Asking God to give us hearts full of Christ-like love; (2) Putting our love to work by “doing stuff” and meeting practical, material needs; and (3) Spending time with people we wouldn’t normally spend time with.
We also nominated people to serve as deacons/deaconesses. It was exciting to see God working in the selection of 2 terrific candidates, Chris E. and Josh E. Please begin praying for these men as we enter our period of consideration. As always, if anyone recognizes a scriptural reason why either of them should not serve, please contact Pastor Scott ASAP. Barring that, we will set them apart to their ministry in early March.
Have a terrific week!
