the glorious exchange

At the National New Church Conference Thursday, a leader I greatly respect for what he’s done in the area he’s in, stepped onto his platform and made a misinformed, prejudiced remark concerning a video that had just played. I didn’t appreciate it whatsoever, and immediately lost all respect I had for him. I walked out on his session. Maybe that was overreacting, I don’t know. But all I could think about was what Stetzer had said not even a day earlier: we express our loss of confidence in the gospel when we demean others that preach the gospel. That being said, I still forgive you, even though you’ll never read this.

Track: Pre-Launch
Speaker: Vince Antonucci
Topic: Evangelistic DNA

He had a handout.

• There have been thousands of churches started and hundreds are becoming mega-churches.
• However, only about 40% of people say they go to church. Down 9% from 1991.
• Research states that about 1/2 as many people who say they go actually go.
• Most of the people coming to our churches are from other churches!
• “In the past 15 years the church in America has spent 500 billion dollars on domestic ministry and for it has shown no appreciable growth.“
• Jesus came for the lost, not for the righteous.
• Who cares if you start a church? It has to be reaching lost people.

How do we create evangelistic DNA in a new church?

• Has to start with having evangelistic DNA in the planter. If it’s not in the planter, it won’t be in the church.
• It’s powerful to have evangelistic metaphors and stories.
• You need to be willing to make the sacrifice it takes.

Practical principles to make Sunday mornings truly evangelistic:

• Unfold people’s arms. They are saying: “prove that you’re different as a church”. So? Prove it.
• Wear their shoes. Put yourself in their shoes: What are they feeling? Thinking? Saying? Looking for? What do they smell? What do they hear?
• Treat your visitors at church like you would treat visitors at your home for dinner. There are things you don’t do when you have guests over. There are things that you do when you have guests over. There are also things that you will still do, but you would explain to guests. Use the same principles in your church.
• Check your influences.
  • 1) God and Scripture should be the primary influence.
  • 2) Check your theological issues.
  • 3) Your influences can be: Starbucks, Disney, MTV, etc.
  • 4) Don’t limit your influences to churches.
• Use their culture. Connect it in branding, connect it within your sermon, connect it in order of service.
• Don’t use Christian/church culture. Your assumptions will create your crowd.
• Authenticity is priceless.
• The Joe Dimaggio principle: run and play hard for the kid in the stands at his first baseball game.

The Final Question:

• Are you willing to sacrifice to be part of a church that reaches lost people?

Good, practical stuff from Vince.

Track: Pre-Launch
Speaker: Matt Chandler
Topic: Transparent Leadership

Wow. If you’ve never heard Chandler, I’m sorry. You need to get his podcast yesterday. He basically challenged us to be men, strong leaders, and to talk to Jesus more than we talk about Jesus. Download his session. Awesome.

Track: Pre-Launch
Speaker: Shawn Lovejoy
Topic: Directional DNA (Vision)

Great stuff here.

• We have to be prophets and stewards of vision. (Amos 3:7)
• We get our vision from God, not the internet.
  
• We then have to communicate our vision.
  •  Often. Vision leaks.
• After communicating it, we have to protect the vision.
  • How? By confronting people. By saying no. By giving people permission to leave.
  • Who do we want to leave?
    • Consumer Christians
    • Spiritual Mavericks
    • Mission Hijackers
• We must not care what other people think, and instead be an audience of one.
• Why? We are called.

Short, but ever so sweet. I needed to hear that talk.

Track: Pre-Launch
Speaker: Mark Batterson
Topic: Creative DNA

Notes from the “positive” blogger :).

• If you learn something from an experience, it’s not a failure.
• God is infinitely creative.
• We are immune to, but surrounded by, God’s creativity.
• We are the pinnacle of God’s creativity.
• The more we become like the Creator, the more creative we should become
• Our sense of humor is really a stewardship issue. As is our artistic skills, language skills, and everything else that comes from the right brain.
• God never ceases laughing at us: we’re always doing something funny. But at the same time, His heart never stops breaking. That’s how infinite He is.
• The church should be the most creative place on the planet.
• 5 Keys to Creativity
  • Keep Learning.
    • There will be Eureka moments as we keep learning.
    • Never lose a holy curiosity.
    • Every -ology is a branch of theology.
    • Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.
  • Exegete Culture
    • We must have contextual intelligence.
    • Be a student of culture (1 Chronicles 12:32).
  • Brand Sermons
    • Seven Steps to Brand a Sermon Series
  • Disrupt Your Routines
    • Change of pace+Change of place=Change of Perspective
    • When a routine becomes routine, change it.
    • Good leaders confuse people. Say what?
  • Keep Experimenting
    • We need more churches because there are more people. We need many types of churches because there are many types of people.
    • Everything is an experiment.
    • Don’t be afraid to fail.

If you’ve been following Batterson a while, you won’t see much new, but it’s still powerful because it isn’t reality in most of our churches yet.