For the past 5 years I have attended the Creative Church Conference (C3) at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX. This year, due to being so new to my church and out of town Monday and Tuesday, I missed my first C3 conference. For more detailed highlights, check out Tony Morgan’s blog. Perry Noble also posted highlights from each of the speakers. Here they are:
Ed Young, Jr. – Ed does not hold back on what he is thinking…and some of THE main points I took away from him were…
- I’ve got to carve out more time to think what if thoughts
- He said, When pride walks on the stage, God walks off! (This was an awesome reminder to remember WHO is doing all of this AWESOME stuff!)
- I’ve got to be willing to deal with the issues that the Holy Spirit brings to my attention.
- Little people with little vision will always attack big people with big vision
Craig Groeschel – I have heard this guy speak twice now…and BOTH times God used him to challenge me and make me incredibly uncomfortable…
- I’ve insulted God by dreaming too small.
- You can be a full time pastor and a part time follower of Christ.
- My kids will know me as daddy, not ‘pastor,’
- I’ve got to play hurt. People will hurt you, the ministry will hurt you…and you still have to play!
- Your ministry will never outgrow your threshold for pain.
- God uses idiots!
- Look at who Jesus surrounded Himself with–not one Scribe, not one Pharisee, not one Sadducee…they were all idiots! (See Acts 4:13)
- Most churches who are looking for a pastor want someone with at least five years of ministry experience, who has a seminary degree…and at least five years of ministry experience–which means that JESUS would not be qualified to pastor most churches in the USA!!!
Mark Driscoll – this dude is a certified Jesus freak…I love this guy…he brought it…
- Jesus loves my church more than me–and when I am off–He is still ON IT!
- The Pharisees murdered Jesus because He wasn’t good enough!
- The religious critics are like referees, they aren’t playing the game, they aren’t putting any points on the board, but they love the jersey and the whistle and pointing out people’s problems
- Religious people care about things that no one else cares about–including God!
Dr. Ed Young (Ed’s dad) – this guy rocked my world…he is 70, has three boys in the ministry, has a solid marriage–leads a large church…and is full of life. He is PROOF that it CAN BE DONE!!!
- If the church wants to do serious missions–it needs to reach KIDS!!!
- Reaching kids is evangelism!
- Out of the kids who are BROUGHT UP IN CHURCH–only ONE out of EIGHT are still there when they reach the age of 22. (Maybe that’s because they were treated like second class citizens as kids and teens!!!)
- The church has a product (the good news), a mission statement (Matthew 28:18-20), a marketing strategy (Acts 1:8) and profit (changed lives!)