Brad started out by defining leadership as change and stating that the church desperately needs to change. The church in Acts was defined by change. In fact, in one day the church changed big time by thousands of people becoming believers. How would we respond if that happened in the church today? Most leaders don’t know how to change, and that is killing the church. Change has to be embraced because the church of the future is the church of today. Too often the church is in crisis before we’re willing to change, but we would be wise to realize that change today affects the church of tomorrow.
Brad made several statements about the past:
- The Promise of the church was made in the past
- The Purpose of the church was given in the past
- The Power of the church was given in the past
- The Potential of the church was given in the past
- The Proof of the church was given in the past
One thing not given in the past: The prospect of local ministries, which rests with us in the present.
There are two guiding principles that we need to accept:
- Revelation – the Truth of Jesus Christ that must be taught at all costs
- Relevance – the Truth of Christ must be taught in a way that people in our culture understand, or they will not hear the message
A few good quotes:
- We’re riding the good ship Lollipop
- Christianity becomes religion when we stop being transformed
- The sheep are running the ministry
- If sinners be damned at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. Let them go with our arms around their knees. Let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for. –Charles Spurgeon
My personal thoughts:
Brad spoke so fast it was hard to jot down a lot of what he said, but there were a lot of nuggets in there. At one point he said that too often in the church “the sheep are running the ministry.” I wonder if/how much that is true with LifePoint. I think it’s true to at least some degree, and it’s not a biblical principle. This session was a huge challenge to think about how much we try to be relevant to people without compromising God’s Word. Do we do a good job of it? Are we engaging people with the Truth of Christ? Our church could be the hope of the world, but is it? Would people in our community even know if our church ceased to exist? Would they care? Do we draw people to Christ? The Great Commission, Jesus’ final command to his followers, said that we are to be making disciples. We’re supposed to be planting seeds of Christ into people’s lives, but I’m not sure we’re doing that to the degree we should be doing it.
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