Notes from seminar at HTB Leadership Conference: Basic law of Christian prayer – It is already there before you start. When you realise this, you are praying It’s like breathing: with you always When 17 his faith has come alive and he’s trying to start to learn to pray Started with 5 mins Added 5 a day About half an hour – it was wonderful But then the house was empty After a while his brothers spoiled it So, he’d sit in a chair Read Get a word Repeat it But then a younger brother bangs on door Now he’s angry And guilty So he gives up By the end of the week – he goes to confession, where he learned the lesson of his life about prayer About a man who was imprisoned for years, yet surrounded by pain and noise, out of that – he learned to pray. The monk then told him: ‘The test that a prayer is authentic is that you learn to turn it into prayer. Any scrap of wood is good fuel for […]
From the CROWD to the CROSS. Kay Warren #LC14 (blog) #bgbg2
Mark 8:34 Jesus made this statement to get people to move away from the crowd, to be a disciple; It involves three steps: Dangerously Surrendered. Control stops me surrendering fully to God To say not me and mine in the kingdom of meWe want to arrange life to make us comfortable I want to get a car park space And a green light I am more interested in you listening to me than the other way round Shallow? Petty? But if you’re going to move from the crowd to being closer to Jesus that has to change Fear keeps us from saying yes to God If I really lived 100% abandoned to God, won’t he allow something terrible to happen So I put boundaries around my yes. The fears crowd in at bedtime so I pray ‘I will do anything for you – except don’t let me or mine get cancer or… Don’t touch this dream.. Or relationship’ As if we say ‘I need to protect them from him.’ We are afraid our surrender will increase evil – but […]
CREATING BIG PEOPLE – Clare Chapman at #LC14 – Head of HR at Tesco, NHS, now BT.
She became a Christian at the age of 12, holiday club, watching a film about Jonah and the big fish. 6 years ago her husband David suddenly died in her arms. Then a voice came ‘You have what you need.’ You never get over it but you can move on. When they first married David wouldn’t believe until he saw concrete proof. He eventually did the Alpha course, where he realised he had been asking the wrong question. He died believing in the resurrection. For many years she had her spiritual life and work life in two separate boxes, but now she sees there’s an ‘here on earth as in heaven’ aspect where the talents you are given, well used, brings great fulfillment. The Parable of the Talents She struggled with the parable! The servant who buried it suffered wrath. The pursuit of wealth isn’t the problem, it’s when that becomes the reason to be. Values and purpose are at the core of creating abundance rather than addiction. Purpose To believe in something bigger than […]
A Theology Of Leadership: Nurture and Protect for Flourishing. @gtomlin Graham Tomlin #LC14 HTB Leadership Conference
The Christian church was born into an era of emperors. You ascended the imperial throne because of seniority, heredity or military glory. Then you could do whatever you liked until unseated by a coup. Before 1949 in Germany Fuhrer just meant Leader. Since the war it doesn’t get used. It’s tainted. Similarly such leaders tainted it for the church. Also for OT – God was king, kings were something to be wary of. For NT – Jesus is only Lord. (Acts 17:7, Rom 10:9, Col 1:18) – HE is the Leader. The head of the church. Supreme. We hear ‘Lead Like Jesus’ – but if that means he’s just an example of a good leadership tip source, that won’t do. He’s no leadership guru, he’s the Lord. BUT God is working for the flourishing of creation. (Eph 1:10) Richard Bauckham ‘God’s secret purpose at work in the whole creation took visible shape in Jesus Christ.’ God’s care for creation is exercised indirectly; he chooses a part for the good of all. He chooses […]
GRIEVING and the Battle for HOPE – #LC14 Rick & Kay Warren at HTB Leadership Conference, Royal Albert Hall
NOTES FROM INTERVIEW AT HTB LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2014 NG – How do you cope when your world is rocked- as it was when Matthew died? RW – I wish we could be as unified in evangelism as we are in grief. Because there was an outpouring from the Body of Christ. Why can’t we be as unified about the mission? KW – I will grieve for my son every day until I see him again. But we have to go through it together. This could tear us apart, though divorce is never an option for us. RW – So we decided to grieve differently, together. Because the stats are against you staying together when you’ve lost a child. So, whatever you’re feeling is okay. Enter into a deeper level of grief. Easiest death? Godly old people, ready to go Then death of spouse, death of child, you’re not meant to outlive your children Then suicide Some rejoiced and laughed that their son had killed himself. What do you do? And they are public figures, so they used social media to […]
Rick Warren leaders meeting, HTB leaders meeting #LC14
I was privileged to be invited with a small group of leaders to lunch with Pastor Rick Warren – afterwards there was an ‘Any Questions.’ Here are my notes on his responses. I couldn’t think of any questions so I gave him a hug instead 🙂 Rick Warren We can no longer lead with proclamation, we need to lead with activity ; in the public square. It’s important not to get alienated or partisan. The local church has to reclaim health care as part of its job. Christians took care of the sick & dying Why should we help those with mental illness? Jesus did it – health of spirit, mind and body. Practically, when the church gets called in to people’s troubles, we better be ready and trained to represent him. Where do you go for help? Small groups Everybody has to be in one: Meet in temple courts (large worship) And House to house Saddleback has more people in small groups than Sundays. The Pastor has to model this. Go through life together, I was there when they […]
Bobby Cheema at HTB leadership conference
3 most important things about leadership Clarity of thought -Jesus words are in red, he speaks with clarity Honour others Give others the credit. Mentor others. Believe in them, bring out the best. Courage Jesus laid down my life for me, now I have a life to lay down for him.
Michael Frost at New Thing Gathering #exponential – Aslan on the move!
Michael Frost at New Thing Gathering #exponential Only one Australian has ever won the Nobel prize for literature; Patrick White A brutal, critical hater of the church in his biography he wrote about how he was with his gay partner of 40 years when he went out on the farm to feed his dogs, He fell on his backside, covered in mud and dogfood he heard a voice say ‘who the hell do you think you are?’ He thought God was speaking to him. So he went to church next week with his partner He went to the Anglican Church and sat at the back, where the Rector was telling people off for entering the jelly bean counting contest and being gamblers. ‘I realised whatever faith I had needed to be a private matter’ And too many churches are putting people like that off or telling them off Rather than being with them. Being their friends I And saying ‘that God who was taking to you, he’s my friend and he wants to be yours too.’ Canada – Another […]
#exponential Rethinking Preaching
Andy Stanley People are not on a truth quest, but a happy quest. We know it’s bigger than that but if you tap into that, you find the tension – the cry of the human heart. Matt Chandler Preach the massiveness of the gospel, If all Christianity is ‘me as a better person’ then we end up as navel gazing spiritual types For the church to engage we have to see the greater pull and power of the gospel So we care about all suffering but especially eternal suffering. James Meeks You have to be yourself. If you’re trying to impress people, you’re going to blow it Be sure you know what you’re going to talk about. If you don’t – they won’t! Andy Stanley One of the mistakes we make is that if you spend all your time listening to a particular preacher you’ll sound like that guy, listen broadly! We all adopted a style, not on purpose What do I need to keep What do I need to change so communicating is FUN for me Even if I’m […]
Michael Frost #bgbg2 #Exponential. LIVE A QUESTIONABLE LIFE.
A church he visited with in USA, a guy came up after and said ‘Ever since we talked about being missional we’ve stopped doing evangelism.’ Uh oh Being missional is not just acts of kindness We have to announce that Jesus is Lord of all, we’re not being missional. David Bosch, ‘Of course words are necessary, unexplained deeds in themselves do not constitute the mission of God’s people.’ Yes the church that was once so attaraction only focused; Come to us has turned around to ‘Go.’ Colossians 4:2-6 Paul advocates 2 pronged approach; 1) Some people are gifted as evangelists, and he’s one of them, with a translocal call. There are also local evangelists in a particular place. (PRAY for opportunity for them, and that they’re BOLD to seize them and CLARITY in how they present Christ). But he doesn’t say ‘And I will pray the same for you… He says 2) YOU make the most of every opportunity with outsiders, love people, and answer them. This says not everyone is an evangelist. […]