Perry was on his game again, and during this session, he challenged staff and specifically spent a lot of time addressing senior pastors, using Exodus 4 as his passage. 

Here are some of the notes I took:

#1  If you want to make it for the long haul, deal with your pride and insecurities.

“When we’re successful, sometimes we think it’s because of something we did.” 

“It’s not my job to keep everybody happy.  It’s not my job to take an opinion poll every time God speaks to my heart.”   

“If you’re called, you just don’t quit.”

#2  Use your staff

“There are a lot of staff members who think that their senior pastor exists for them to lean on, when in reality, the staff members exist for the senior pastor to lean on.”

“Senior pastors, treat your staff with respect.  Smile at them.  Give them a ‘side hug’ every once in a while.  Honor your staff in various ways.”  

“Staff, you’ve never felt the weight that a senior pastor feels.  You don’t know what he has to deal with on a daily basis.”

#3  Take God-directed risks 

“I didn’t say, ‘Take stupid risks!’  I said, ‘Take God-directed risks!’”

“We’re never going to get where God wants us to go by playing it safe.”

“Pick up the snake by the tail and watch what God can do.”

#4  Understand that at times it’s going to hurt

“Sometimes ministry affects us in personal ways that hurt”

“Ministry always hurts!”

#5  Follow “His” leadership

Cherie Duffey is the Children’s Ministry Director at NewSpring Church.  Her breakout session centered around leading preschool and elementary children.

It wasn’t really a note-taking kind of session, but I did write down a few things.  Here are a few of the observations I made as I was surrounded by about 200 crazy children’s ministry volunteers.

·         They use upcoming animated movie releases to connect with kids. 

·         It’s important to know what’s going on in a kid’s world.  Subscribe to blogs and magazines that talk about children’s stuff (i.e. Nickelodeon Magazine)

·         They write their own curriculum based on what they perceive the needs of their children are.

·         Their biggest challenge is to make everything cohesive, to bring everything together.

·         Occasionally, they will do a series that will coincide with what the adults are learning about in “big church”.

·         Their volunteers show up 45 minutes early and they get the VIP treatment when they do.  They use this time to keep everyone informed about what’s happening in the children’s ministry. 

·         Evidently, we are not the only church that has a little “Tasmanian Devil” running around.

·         In the middle of a crazy Sunday, don’t forget that you love children.

Tony Morgan is a pastor and the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church.  He says he doesn’t know what that title really means, but I’ll bet he came up with it. 

Anyway, Tony is one of my favorite bloggers and a great communicator in his own right.  He’s certainly not as flamboyant as Perry Noble, but Tony is colorful in his own unique way.

His breakout session was about blogging.  It’s sort of funny.  He talked about blogging and now I’m blogging about his talk.  Anyway, his talk was entitled, “Ten Steps to Becoming Blogging BFF’s” and here is some of what he shared.

1.       Determine your primary audience- know who your audience is and talk to them

2.       Post regularly- you can’t build a relationship with anyone without starting conversations with them

3.       Keep your posts short- people are busy…don’t write too much…think in terms of bullet points too

4.       Don’t sell yourself- don’t toot your own horn…make fun of yourself…share your struggles

5.       Use humor- all business and no play makes for boring blogs

6.       Stop attacking other people and ministries- blogs are not a platform for you to go off on someone else…avoid pointing fingers

7.       Remember that blogging isn’t private- if you put it out there, people will read it…all kinds of people will read it…if you’re not sure, don’t post it

8.       Be a thought leader- don’t always talk about what everyone else is thinking or doing…talk about what you’re thinking and doing

9.       Don’t listen to critics- be a selective listener

10.   Reveal the real you- write about what you know, not what you don’t know

Tony also accidentally said, “Women tend to hire guys like their father.”  He meant to say, “Women tend to marry guys like their father”, but he made a little slip-up.  Maybe you had to be here to fully appreciate, but I know I thought it was hilarious!

Perry opened Main Session #1 by inviting us to turn to Luke 15.  Instead of focusing on the story of the younger brother, the prodigal son, Perry looked at the last part of the story and spent all his time talking about the older brother. 

Here are some of the great thoughts he shared. 

“The one thing I’m praying for is that an alarm will go off in your life.”

“Sometimes I think God wants to say, ‘If you’re not going to use the church, I’m just going to take it back and give it someone else who will act with urgency and use it for my glory!’”

“If you’re going to reach this world for Christ, you’re going to have to spend some money.  You’re going to have to especially spend money on children and on youth.  You ask, ‘Why should we spend so much money on children?’  Because Nickelodeon does.” 

“It takes time and effort.”

What are the barriers that stand in our way?

1.       Refusal to Change- “Some churches never grow because they let their personal preferences get in the way.”

2.       Jealousy- “God is bigger than one church.  And if you can’t celebrate what God is doing in another church, then God can’t trust you.”

3.       A Lack of Understanding-  “I think some of the reasons churches hit a wall is they have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into.”

What do we want to celebrate?

“We want to celebrate people meeting Jesus.” 

First of all, before I say anything else, let me admit that I love Chick-fil-A!  If there is one brand that has my loyalty, it’s the Chick-fil-A brand.  Robin and I eat there several times a week and we are known for our Chick-fil-A loving ways.  Some people even call us addicts.  We don’t deny it.  Robin and I would probably use Chick-fil-A toothpaste if they made it! 

In fact, I just went came back from lunch and while I was home, Robin told me that I needed to read her blog today because it was about Chick-fil-A, and I just laughed and told her that I was going to write about Chick-fil-A.

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to read the book, “Eat Mor Chikin:  Inspire More People” for a long time and just recently I was finally able to sit down to read it.  It’s written by the founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy, and was a very fun and insightful read for me.  Not only did he tell the story of how their classic sandwich was invented and how the famous Chick-fil-A cows came about, but he also passed along some really valuable leadership principles. 

Here are a few of the thoughts that I wrote down while reading.

“There is some solution for every problem if you explore all possibilities.”

“Courtesy is cheap to provide, and pays great dividends.”

“Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and directing our attention to things more important than our business.”

“When we’re fully committed to something, we’re not likely to give up or become discouraged, and we’re not likely to fail.”  

“How do you know when somebody needs encouragement?  If they are breathing!”

“Financial experts tell me our strength would allow us to open restaurants at a much more aggressive pace than our current seventy per year. But I’d rather have seventy restaurants operating efficiently and professionally than 500 restaurants where half are run well and the other half not.”

“Success in any relationship or endeavor begins with trust. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when you trust the people around you.”

“Good people attract good people.”

“Everyone from the Operator to the newest hire must be willing to do any job in the restaurant: prepare food, wash dishes, mop floors, clean restrooms. Team members should take it upon themselves without being questioned to keep the restaurant shipshape all the time.”

“Our philosophy of ‘doing the right thing and doing things right’ is hardly ever the easiest solution. It is however, always the best solution.”

“Lives can be changed if we say the right thing at the right time with the right spirit.” 

T.D. Jakes is pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas.  He’s one of the most gifted speakers I’ve ever heard. He spoke from Luke 24:13-31 and titled his message, The Order of the Breaking of Bread.  I’m sorry if this post is longer than the others, but he just said too many insightful and profound things for me to leave anything out.

 “It’s easy for us to criticize people in Scripture because we’re on the backside of the story.  But when you’re in the middle of the fight, it’s much harder to figure out what to do and what not to do.” 

“Jesus was not concerned with overthrowing Caesar, but overthrowing Satan.”

“You haven’t begun to preach until you’re controversial.”

“If you’re not walking in the path of conflict, you’re not a leader.”

“Isn’t it odd that those who said they know him best, didn’t recognize him when he stood right in front of them.” 

“How could these disciples not recognize Jesus?  Lazarus recognized Jesus’ voice and he was dead.”

“If you can lead and still be open in your heart, sensitive in your spirit, and not burn down the school because you think you graduated, then maybe God will teach you something.”

“Sometimes we need to plead with God, ‘Abide with us!’”

“Jesus is so cool!” 

“You can’t lead people who aren’t thirsty!”

“If you’ll just pray, ‘Don’t leave me Lord!’, perhaps God will show you something none of your books or tapes will never show you.”

“Could it be possible that God is bigger than our circumstances and greater than our situations?”

“He’s bigger than you think He is!”“Jesus sat down at the table and did what all great preachers do…He got something to eat!”

“I have learned more about Him in the crushings, the breakings, the rippings of life, than I ever have in the blessings of life”

“Had he not broken me, I would have never been able to preach that God was able.  I would be preaching that I am able.”

“Away with all the preachers who’ve never done anything wrong and give me a preacher that has been broken!”