We don’t always have a ’talk’ at our prayer meetings, but Nick Holovaty gave this one and I was ready to take some notes. Look at some of the stuff in here in light of the recent Osteen quotes floating around the internets.
Verge 2014 Notes – Redeemed for Incarnational Justice
At the end of this, my brain was mush. I think it was more the fact that they had the band come out, sing worship songs and have a prayer time and then surprise us with another 30 minute speaker when it was supposed to be over that wore me out. Knowing how to pace yourself at these conferences is the difference between getting something out of it and just wanting to get out. I dismissed the guys at the mission as soon as Michael Frost was done talking, even though Verge still went on for unknown amounts of time.
That might also be the webcast aspect of it. It might be amazing in that room full of people worshipping and singing and getting on their knees praying, but as people watching it from home it’s different.
As I look over my notes, I notice the impact of having 5 speakers go “just a little bit over”on their time. I learned this the hard way once. Whenever people give you a chance to speak, it is your responsibility, as the one serving your audience, to not go over the time they’ve given you.
I look forward to the excerpts being posted on Youtube in the coming months.
WCAGLS Session 11: Oscar Muriu on Leadership
Session 11: Oscar Muriu
Nairobi church is a network of over 40 churches. They are even going to America to plant churches!
5 things about leadership development
Matthew 9:37-38
Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers!
The size of your harvest depends on how many leaders you have.
The problem isn't the harvest.
The problem is there aren't enough people going into the work!
This sounds a little like Neil Cole's stuff. Turn on the light, attract the moths, let the roaches run.
We spend a lot of time trying to convince people they are part of the harvest. Jesus said the harvest if plentiful!
Jesus got some guys and trained them to preach the kingdom of heaven while he preached the kingdom of heaven.
As this guy is talking, I seriously wonder how many old pastors have a lot of guys around them, getting mentored and trained, that aren't on their staff. Young guys that are really learning from the old guys because it's awesome, not because they want to take their place.
Psalm 71:18 – Don't forsake me until I've declared your light and your greatness to the generations to come.
He is talking about our visions living on to the next generation, I'm wondering who of us is working out the vision of somebody that came before us? What church, organization, company, are we working for and striving for to carry on their mission?
EVANSVILLE RESCUE MISSION, 96 YEARS BABY!!
We need to pour into people 20 years younger than us. (I'm working on pouring into five kids 27-36 years younger than me)
Numbers 11:10-17 People were crying for meat. Moses was crying about the burden of the people being on him.
"God, if you aren't going to help me, then just kill me!"
God told him to gather up 70 men and He put His spirit on them too. They went out and shouldered the burden with Moses.
Those 70 guys didn't come out of nowhere. They were already there. He gathered them up in one day.
Some of your best leaders are all around you. Your competitors can see them. Your neighbor church can see how awesome your youth pastor is as a senior pastor, but you can't. Look around.
5 young people came to him and said they would give him the next 25 years of their life to go out and plant churches.
There are a few things about african pastors that always make me a little uncomfortable. Not sure what it is. Hints of prosperity gospel, some cult like devotion to personalities, a sort of "failure is not an option" type A personality. Those might just be side-effects of their circumstances, because they are also pretty amazing and awesome.
He would pick guys and pray for them secretly until they said they wanted to become church planters. He called it his hit-list.
Instill the five loves into your leaders.
Love the Lord your God with all of your heart soul mind strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
- heart – character, who you are
- soul – conviction, values, beliefs, dreams, passions
- mind – comprehension, understanding God
- strength – competence. Having skill, doing a good job, working hard,
- Love your neighbor as yourself – compassion
Acts 4:13 – They were amazed that these guys were bold and unschooled. The listeners took note that they had been with Jesus.
Jesus spent TIME with those guys. Never do ministry alone. Always have budding leaders around you! [I'd always add in to that always be around long-time leaders!]
15x4x52x3 is how many hours Jesus spent with those guys. 9,360 hours. If we meet with a guy for 3 hours a week, it will take us 60 years to spend time like Jesus spent time with His guys.
"You should never go anywhere alone. Immerse them in discipleship opportunities. If you have an extra bedroom, invite them into your home to see you be a parent and a husband!"
I think maybe Kenyans are church planters like they are runners. They are intense. They are phenomenal.
It's neat to hear about the churches they are starting all over the world. Not do downplay that, but I think they are just barely talking about multiplication vs. addition.
I need to write something about Leadership/Members being the new Clergy/Laity.
WCAGLS Session 8: Joseph Grenny : Influence
Session 8: Joseph Grenny
Leadership is more than being motivating. Courage, inspiration, people skills are all good.
Influence is the new currency that trumps authority.
people spend 3 billion hours a week playing video games
1 in 34 in the United States are incarcerated
Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980
smoking droppped from 44% in the 50s to 21% in 2008
All of these changes happen because of influence. Maybe intentional influence, maybe not.
There is a reason people are moving from pews to video games
80% of people know a christian
15% see anything different in the Christians' behavior
Whenever the word BARNA comes up, you're gonna get a butt whoopin.
A woman in Nairobi (Jane), her only job choice was the sex trade. She worked with tourists first, but then had several children and had to work for locals close to home because of childcare. She worked for $0.25 a gig for locals.
There are 800,000 women like her in Nairobi.
What if there is something we could help her do once a week that would improve her life completely?
They did a study, and of all the kids that were able to earn $40 or buy insanely overpriced candy, the average kid left with $13.
When asked why, the kids didn't know! They couldn't explain what had happened!
| |Motivation|Ability|
|personal |gave the kids a bite of their favorite candy| no training
|Social| They planted tempters|
|structural| they went on credit, instead of cash in hand|they had posters hanging with kids enjoying candy
When they took away those things, the average kid left with $34!!
Influence affected these kids over 200%
wallpaper, kids saying they wanted to save, cash in hand, 200%
Good things feel like struggle, sacrifice, and effort. The bad things always feel good and desirable.
Our mission as an influencer is the make the bad stuff feel bad, and the good stuff feel good. Halloween guy that put a sign up that said, "What would batman eat?" made 50% of kids take an apple instead of candy. Before that 91% of kids took the candy.
As an influencer, we control the frame.
don't teach principles, connect to people's values.
Frame specific daily decisions in specific activities and specific goals.
You can overcome an impulse just by framing a goal. People put more money into a "new roof account" than they put into a "savings" account.
10 year old girl Zia on a 40 meter ski jump. That was a great video. She called it a long 20 and went for it!
The greatest influencers start with Ability instead of motivation.
Joshua spent 40 years with Moses before he led the people.
Moses spent 40 years with Pharoah learning to be a ruler.
The practice setting must approximate the real world. If we are going to train folks, we have to train them in reality, not in a church, which is not in reality.
- small bites,
- intense focus,
- immediate feedback
Learn to shift your focus on critical moments. Focus on the long term goal, not the power of the impulse.
HOV lanes for 2 or more people. Within weeks, 1 out of 5 people were cheating. They put up a sign that said, "Report HOV violations: 921-HERO"
If you got called out, you got a letter.
The number of lane violators dropped 80% in weeks.
It's no longer a time or economic decision, it becomes a social decision.
Use Ability and Motivation and keep people in their social setting. Social influence, influence among your peers and friends, is a more powerful force than our own self discipline.
Lady that makes chicken head protein pez things on the street. She knows economics and knows how to measure her progress, and she's jamming.
Idea
What if we did a micro-credit thing at the mission??
Escalators
Learn to take apart influence problems. Break them down into the 3 blocks.
Just a sign saying "burn 7 calories" influenced a lot of people to take the stairs.
space, data, cues, tools, processes, and other environtment factors.
Are the comfortable chairs by the video games or by the reading lights?
Are the healthy foods easy to grab in the fridge or on the counter next to the chips?
Make good choices easier and more obvious!
Make bad choices harder and more concious!
We don't get to VOTE on the aspects of influence, they are there, for us or against us
When we use all 6 factors of influence, the change goes up 1000%
If you want to change the world, lose influence.
"Dear God! when did a woman like me get a house like this!"
"Jane, you didn't go from nothing to something, you were always something, and influence helped you to become what it is."
Poverty the Blessing & the Prosperity Curse
Psalm 17:13-14
NASB Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, From men with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life,
And whose belly You fill with Your treasure;
NET Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, from the murderers of this world!
They enjoy prosperity; you overwhelm them with the riches they desire.
If you never read it anywhere else, you can read it here. Prosperity and the riches of this world are a curse, not a blessing.
Some of that sounds good: to have your belly full of treasure, to have all of the riches you desire, but the context is worldly men or murderers, not the blessed.
This fits along with 1 Timothy 6:9
Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
It is so crazy how we are ripped off every day to the point that we think it is totally normal to constantly covet and wish for stuff!
Jesus was right on when He said
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24 NASB)
Even in christendom we make jokes about being afraid God will send us to Kookamunga. More and more I’m thinking that more of us would be better off if He did! How pure and attractive our devotion to God would be if it were coupled with poverty!
Ooh Ooh! What if the goal of all of this Christian financial money management stuff was to train and equip yourself to live in poverty in spite of your income! Wow. May God help me with this stuff.
<<Written on my dual core i7 MacBook Pro>>