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Craig Groeschel gave a straightforward talk to Pastors (or maybe I felt that way because he was spot on in so many ways). His main text was from Acts 20:22:24 – some of my favorite passages in the Bible. His thoughts focused on the making of a spiritual leader. He gave Four Phases God takes a leader as He prepares them for ultimate impact.
1. Spirit’s Prompting (compelled by the Spirit)
There is a moment in life that God will compelled you to do something for Him and it will drive you to take a risk. He made the statement, “Step away from your security to step into your destiny.” Whoa. This is how I felt when it came to becoming a Pastor. I left what was secure, what I knew how to do and what I was successful at, and took on an opportunity that was part of God’s unfolding plan for my life.
So, we’re to pay attention to the ways God is moving, and to look around and see what we’re not okay with and that very well may be why God is compelling you to do.
2. Certain Uncertainty (22b)
Many of us know what we want to do, but we don’t have the clue as to what that means. Craig encouraged the group by saying that was okay. It’s okay to have a level of certain uncertainty. Many times in fact, God won’t give us all the details because we couldn’t handle all of them anyway. You are just to be faithful to him.
God often puts something on your heart. If you knew how something was going to get done, then he wouldn’t get the glory. If you’re not afraid, then you aren’t being led by the Spirit.
3. Predictable resistance (23)
One of the things many leaders forget is that any time you lead, tough times are coming. Leading will not be easy. How easily I forget this!! This was a massive statement that seared in my heart:
If your not ready to face opposition to be used by God, then you’re not ready to be used by God.
This was powerful. Any time there is something new and effective, it will always be met with resistance. God often uses resistance to move you so that he can use you. “Don’t worry when you face resistance. Worry when you don’t.”
4. Uncommon Clarity (24)
This is that urge in a person when they know why they are where they are and what God has called them to do. When that clarity comes, you then are to finish the race and complete the task God has given you. Why? So that you could testify of the gospel of the grace of God.
THEN – Craig laid into what I think was the best part of his talk. He talked about three levels of effectiveness and it was like a hammer in the throat. Here they are:
1. Make a name for themselves – “better believe I am good, and everyone is bad” (this is a lie). There are those who set out to be famous and they orient their entire life around making a name for themselves. It’s the worst position of leadership.
2. Make a difference – “we know that I’m not good enough (but pretty good) to do this alone, and those in a similar field are a threat (other pastors).” The problem is that we believe the lie that we’re good at what we do. This is a lie. It comes out by taking shots at others. So we set our entire ministry around the point that we are better than others and we see ourselves as better than everyone else. This is a negative view of what making a difference actually is. You end up hurting others in the process and not really being as effective as you could be in ministry.
3. Make history – “Know that God is good and we only have one enemy and that is satan.” When we understand that God is good, that’s when you’ll make a difference in our church and city. It’s not about us, it’s about Him.
This was a HUGE reminder and challenge. I spent some time reflecting on this session, and was convicted that often times I dwell in the “make a difference” category rather than the “make history” line. I pray that I attempt to make history…
One last quote to end:
Don’t be so stupid to make a name for yourself, but make a difference in history by making much of Jesus.
one of the significant forms of disconnection that plagues this generation of students: the separation of faith from their “real lives.” The faith too many of them have inherited is a lifeless shadow of historic Christianity, which insists that following Jesus is a way of life, not a laundry list of vague beliefs that have little meaning for how we spend our lives. I think the next generation’s disconnection stems ultimately from the failure of the church to impart Christianity as a comprehensive way of understanding reality and living fully in today’s culture. To many young people who grew up in Christian churches, Christianity seems boring, irrelevant, sidelined from the real issues people face. It seems shallow.
From You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith by David Kinnaman (loc 1838
This past week, I went to Catalyst with our staff from the church. It was a special time for us, and truly renewing. I highlighted some of the key points from the first day, you can read that here, but was unable to update as, well, I have a regular job and needed to prepare a couple of sermons.
This second day, there was a TON of content, so I think I’ll need to break it down from the morning sessions individually, and I might combine a few sessions depending on my notes. Unfortunately, weren’t able to stay on Friday, so there won’t be any updates from that. Yesterday I covered Andy Stanley, you can read that here.
+Jon Acuff: He shared how quickly life runs. For many of us, we will look at our lives and soon realize that there were things that we wanted to do but never got around to it. He summarized life into five “stages”:
1. Learning (20s)
2. Editing (30s)
3. Master (40s)
4. Harvest (50s)
5. Guiding (60s)
But these are not based on age alone, but on the choices you decide to make and when you decide to make them. He put it this way:
It’s no longer about when you born, but when you decided to live.
To Jon, the tools to change the world are at our hands, we just have to start using them. For instance, you ask a teenager/college student to make a difference and they’ll have a domain name, website, twitter handle, Facebook group, and started a kickstarter campaign raising all the necessary funds to achieve their goal. So what is stopping you from doing what God has put in you to do?
See, many of us want to have everything in line before we begin, but that never really is a reality. You will never have enough resources, or capital, or time, or knowledge. In fact, the word “enough” is a toxic word that keeps us from that thing burning in our hearts to accomplish. You are not able to control the finish line, but we can control the start.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
You don’t have to be ready because we have a ready God.
We want to be good right out of the gate. The definition of narcissism is believing you’ll be good right out of the gate.
God will never be handcuffed by your failures or unleashed by your successes.
You don’t steer a boat from the shore.
This was highly motivational and Jon offered great wisdom. In many ways it felt like a pep-rally to doing starting what God has burdened you with. There won’t be more time tomorrow – do today what you need to do to begin that thing. After the session, we received a free copy of his new book Start, as it is now a New York Times Best seller.
This past week, I went to Catalyst with our staff from the church. It was a special time for us, and truly renewing. I highlighted some of the key points from the first day, you can read that here, but was unable to update as, well, I have a regular job and needed to prepare a couple of sermons.
This second day, there was a TON of content, so I think I’ll need to break it down from the morning sessions individually, and I might combine a few sessions depending on my notes. Unfortunately, weren’t able to stay on Friday, so there won’t be any updates from that.
+Andy Stanley: He gave a great little talk and revealed some history of how his church started and the impact of many difficult circumstances that define your life. When you look back on your life, it’s not going to be what conferences you go to, it will be a defining moment and someone said something and it intersected with your current life – and then you changed. The information intersects with the insight. When you tell your story, you will tell your story, it will involve three things:
Unexpected opportunity
Unavoidable adversity
Unquestionable calling
Your response to difficult circumstances are what make you a leader. And these things will be part of your story. Whoa. Andy went on to explain that your current response to opportunity, adversity, and calling is making you currently. There are things that you’re looking at right now and it is creating in you as a leader. No matter how old you are, you are currently in a place where God is making you.
Here was my favorite quotes:
“Burdens become vision.”
“God has a plan for your life and you don’t want to miss it.”
“Actions don’t merely speak louder than words, sometimes they echo into the next generation.”
“It is better to make a difference than to make a point.”
“Leaders are made one response at a time.”
Andy emphasized that we have no idea what hangs in the balance in regards to how we respond to these three different phases in life. At the end of all our days, and our story of our lives is over, all of us would wise to respond differently if we fail to do what God has told us to do. So, we should embrace the opportunities that God puts before us.
This was a powerful message and I’m thankful for the opportunity to be challenged in my leadership. For me, it confirmed so much as to why were are in Bellville and all that God is doing in me. Hope you enjoyed this!
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