Priscilla Shirer of Going Beyond Ministries discussed divine interruption during Catalyst Conference’s 7th session. Here is what she said:

Two years ago on CNN I saw an interview of ex-Korn member Brian Welch. I was captivated by this young man, and when I heard him say the name of Jesus, I wanted to find out what this was all about. Brian explained his conversion and how the love of Christ transformed him. He was basically giving the gospel on primetime television. Brian had come across a verse in the Bible that said, “And they left everything.” And his life was interrupted and he gave up the band and his previous lifestyle to follow Christ.

When God interrupts our life and intervenes and gives us a specific direction, will we go? Right now you are either on your way into an interruption or on your way out of an interruption because that is the nature of God.

A leader in the Bible named Joshua knew how to handle interruption. There are four things that Joshua did in Joshua 3 that show us how to handle interruptions:

1. Act immediately in obedience to God
   What is God asking you to do? Are you procrastinating? You and I are good at giving excuses.
2. Act fearlessly.
   God want leaders who are fearless and do not let the world sway them. You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Do not be afraid.
3. Acknowledge the presence of God.
   Jesus said in John 5:19, “I only do what I see the Father do.” Jesus did His Father’s will and nothing else. What if we only moved for God? If Gods not going, we shouldn’t be going.
4. Anticipate God’s miracles.
   God can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything that we can ask or think.

Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church (Grandville, MI) discussed how to enjoy being where you are at during Catalyst Conference’s third session. Here is what he said:

I was recently talking to you pastor who said he wanted to quit. So I asked him to draw a pie chart of what he does every week. He had been a pastor for a year and wanted to quite every day. So I asked if he practiced Sabbath. [silence]

There are lots of concepts and truths that we would intellectually agree with, but we are made anxious by deep subterranean forces in our bones that drive us. We “believe” one thing but then do something else.

John 6 tells the story of Jesus giving expectations but the crowd thinning because they think they can’t do it. Sometimes the crowd thins. What would Jesus say to modern church growth experts that say if you do A then B then C, then there will be growth and numbers? Sometimes the crowd thins, and people leave, even ones who are close to you.

Luke 21 tells the story of the poor widow that gave “more” out of her poverty than what the rich gave. What we naturally think is an important measurement may not be how God measures things.

You are a living Eucharist. How can we break ourselves open and pour ourselves out, so that the people around us might experience God? The Eucharist is a sacred and holy thing. You surrender your agenda when you serve. But when you exploit the Eucharist and break it down and rank it, you destroy it.

In John 5:19, Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.” His work comes from a grounded, centered, calm place where He only has a few things to do, and He sets out to do it. He is not distracted. He is not stressed. There is a difference between something that is hard and difficult and something that is a burden. God will not give you a burden you can’t carry.

In Exodus 20, the first 9 commandments are external and measurable,  but the last commandment about coveting is not externally observable. The “tenth” is considered a reward. Meaning if you follow the first 9 rules then you won’t have a problem with the 10th rule because you won’t want anyone else’s life.

If you have a burden of feeling like you have not accomplished enough, God wants to set you free from that. Jesus wants you to simply enjoy the place that you are at and the work that is in front of you.

Is there any way in your ministry, that you have neglected to take care of yourself? You need to love your neighbor as yourself. You need to take care of yourself so that you can be energized. Which day do you take care of yourself, so that you can give during the other six days of the week?

Does your spouse get your very best, or does your spouse get what is left over from the church? Do your kids get your very best, or do they get the scraps? Our children pick up on what really matters to us without us saying a word.

If it is not going well at home, it will not go well at church. Jesus invites us into a peaceful, calm place in the center of his love.

Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) began Catalyst Conference’s first official session by discussing leaving a mark on the world. Here is what he said:

What man is a man that does not make the world better?

Leadership is a gift. Every leader leaves a mark. But the challenge is… what type of mark will you leave?

If you are discontent with the status quo and you want to see change, it is because God has put that desire to lead inside of you.

You will never recognize your biggest opportunity until after you’ve taken advantage of it or missed it. You won’t know your mistakes until long after you’ve made them.

The challenge for those of us who are leaders that want to see change is you don’t know the thing that you will do that will make the biggest difference (for good or for evil).

When you study the stories of leaders, they did not know the significance of what they had done until long after they had done it.

The story of Joshua is a great example. God’s greatest concern for Israel was that they would become so wealthy that overtime they would grow less and less dependent on God. But when Joshua was 110 years old, he addressed the nation and said that he never lost sight of the fact that he was dependent on God (Joshua 23:8 & Joshua 23:11). Joshua decided that he would focus on who he is for rather than getting caught up wondering who is for him or against him.

There is no greater joy than to lead your leadership gift into the perfect will of God. Am I willing to submit my leadership gift to a bigger picture and a larger story? Do I recognize that I am invited to be a part of God’s story?

When you finally settle why you do what you do, then you can live your life with a freedom that is unexplainable unless you experience it. God will take full responsibility for your life and leadership once you fully surrender your life to Him.

It is not about your mark. It is about His mark.
It is not about who is for or against you. It is about who you are for.
When God does His greatest work through you, you will have no idea what happened.

Our mark isn’t worth our life. Living to make my mark is too small a thing to give my life to, but to somehow be positioned in a place where God can work through me is something worth giving my life to.

Leaders are going to leave a mark. But the daily question for you is, “Whose mark are you going to leave?”

Perry Noble of NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC) kicked Catalyst 2009 off with a pre-lab discussion of vision. This is what he said:

When God gives you a vision, it will continually take you to a place that is more and more uncomfortable. One of the biggest leadership myths is – one day everything will get easier. When God calls you into leadership, the steps are not easier.

When you begin to say things like, “We want our church to be open to everyone,” God will test you. And God has a sense of humor. Would you really invite anyone to your church? Or do you just like to say you want your church to be open to everyone.

You have to be willing to let God take you to uncomfortable places if you want to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. And if you want to be a leader, you have to be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable places.

Paul’s story in Acts 26 demonstrates the following four truths about vision:

#1 :: Vision begins with an accurate view of Jesus.

The first thing that was revealed to Paul wasn’t the plan but the person of Jesus Christ. One of the mistakes that church leaders make is they don’t even know who Jesus is anymore. Sometimes when it comes to communicating with Jesus, we have no idea who we are talking to. If you want to set your church on fire, you can’t do it without an accurate view of Jesus.

Churches don’t have resource problems; they have a Jesus problem. And when we get our eyes on Jesus, He will blow your flippin’ minds. Are you trying to teach people about who Jesus is or about who you are? You can tell a lot about the church by how many photos of the pastor are everywhere. When we make any agenda of the church anything other than Jesus, we make the church a prostitute.

#2 :: Vision calls us to action.

When the alarm goes off, it should propel us to action. World population is increasing, and church attendance is decreasing. There is a problem. None of us are waiting on God. God is waiting for us to step up and take action. God calls leaders to action.

If Andy Stanley walked into your church, what change would he make? Why wait for an expert to come?

When you lead, people will leave. If people aren’t leaving, you aren’t leading. You are going to make people mad. You don’t want to close the backdoor. In the Bible, the church is called a body. If you close the backdoor, you will constipate your church. You need a Holy Ghost enema.

For church planters, the easiest thing you’ll ever do is plant the church. It just gets more difficult from there. God will always test a church planter in the first year to find out if he is a prophet or a prostitute.

#3 Vision will impact you personally.

God is going to give a vision in direct proportion to the pain you’re willing to endure. There are too many leaders that are unwilling to allow the vision to impact them personally. When you wrestle with God, you will get wounded, but you will never forget that experience. Don’t lead from inspiration, lead from revelation. You should be able to see your vision and feel it. Vision should affect you personally.

#4 Vision will lead to victory.

A lie will paralyze you. And if you believe a lie long enough, you will start telling it to others.

LIE
God is not into numbers. As long as you just have a really good group of people that love each other, it is going to be okay.

Remember, it is called the Great Commission not the great suggestion. If God gives you a vision, it will produce fruit. Don’t say you don’t count people but then count the offering because counting shows what is important to you.

Leadership Network is offering a free church conference online called THE NINES that begins at:

09/09/09 at 9:09am CST.

You will hear from 47+ speakers, who will each spend 9 minutes giving their best leadership advice. Speakers include:

• Mark Batterson :: National Community Church (Washington, DC)
• Dave Ferguson :: Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL)
• Reggie Joiner :: reThink Group
• Dan Kimball :: Vintage Faith Church (Santa Cruz, CA)
• Perry Noble :: NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC)
• Ed Stetzer :: LifeWay Research
• and many many more!

To register for this free conference, visit thenines.eventbrite.com.

Ed Stetzer recently compiled a list of 48 questions to ask yourself for honing your personal accountability. Unfortunately, each year we hear of preachers, politicians, and average Joes who compromise their integrity and make life-ruining mistakes. Sadly, many of those mistakes could have been avoided with the right accountability systems in place.

For all 48 questions, you will need to check out Ed Stetzer’s original post. Here are my top 15 personal favorites:

1. Have I spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
2. Did the Bible live in me today?
3. Am I enjoying prayer?
4. Have I given priority time to my family?
5. How do I spend my spare time?
6. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
7. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
8. Have I been with a woman/man anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?
9. Have I been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed my mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not my spouse this week?
10. Have any of my financial dealings lacked integrity?
11. Have I secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that I might excel?
12. Have I damaged another person by my words, either behind their back or face-to-face?
13. Is there anything that has dampened my zeal for Christ?
14. Is Christ real to me?
15. Have I been completely honest with myself?

For Discussion:
- What accountability questions do you recommend asking?

Yes, a former mob boss has good advice for church leadership. Michael Franzese turned his life around and has penned the leadership lessons he learned in his new book, I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse.

Having lived two different leadership styles, Michael compares the leadership styles of the worldly Machiavelli and the godly King Solomon. However, I particularly appreciate two bits of advice Michael gives early in the book.

There is no magic formula that will guarantee your success.

This life principle is important in any field, but in the pursuit of effective ministry, it is extremely important. There is no perfect church model. There are no 3 steps to megachurch perfection. God has given us each a unique calling. And unique callings require unique formulas to achieve success.

First, nail down the basics.

I am a firm believer of not pursuing the next steps until you have the basics covered. In ministry, first you need sound theology. First, you need the Great Commission. First, you need love. Paul sums up this concept beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13 when he talks about how his ministry efforts would be worthless without love.

Of course, I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse has many more leadership nuggets than these, but you will need to read the book for the rest.

I am moving to Oklahoma City to regularly volunteer at LifeChurch.tv’s central offices. Specifically, I will be working with LifeKIDS and the Digerati team (the creators of YouVersion, OPEN, ChurchMetrics, and VideoTeaching.com).

My wife and I are very excited about the move. I will still spend much of my time blogging and working on AcreScout.com. LifeChurch.tv is simply a great opportunity for me to weekly invest some hours into exciting projects.

In case you wonder what happened to Bombay Creative, we still do client work, but we have cut back to pursue several internal ventures.