Reflections on the Unleash Afternoon Session

In the afternoon main session, Perry spoke directly to leadership and pastors.  It was a time of encouragement and empowerment.  It was similar to his message at the Whiteboard Sessions last year, but I never grow tired of being encouraged in the ministry.  Perry shared 4 questions for all the pastors from the story of Moses in Exodus 33.

  • Question 1 – Who is with me?
  • Question 2 – Am I pleasing God?
    • Do I understand that ministry is received not achieved?
    • Am I placing limits on me that God hasn’t placed on me?
  • Question 3 – Will we see God?
  • Question 4 – What’s next?

Memorable Quotes

  • your church leadership has to be on fire for Jesus
  • there are days you will want to quit
  • people in the church can be the meanest people on the planet
  • average stay for a pastor is 22 months
  • people won’t buy into you, until you buy into them
  • Satan doesn’t want to split your church, he wants to split your staff
  • pastors carry a heavy weight – all of these people are depending on me to not screw up
  • Do you have your pastor’s back?
  • God will continue to put you in uncomfortable situations
  • If you have one more sermon to preach, what would you say? Do it every week
  • don’t get paid by the church for a service that makes them feel good about God – don’t be a prostitute
  • you might have to get out of church work to get into ministry – church work=pleasing people   ministry=pleasing God
  • we depend too much on abilities instead of trusting God’s anointing – 2 Corinthians 4:1
  • God most often puts his most powerful gift in his weakest vessel – Rick Warren
  • you can do exactly what God has called you to do
  • Can people still feel good about living a sinful life when they come to our church?
  • Do you want attendance or repentance?
  • talk about JESUS
  • When was the last time you were desperate for the presence of God?
  • we don’t want to build a monument or a museum, we want to be a movement of God
  • be obsessed about what God is doing
  • if you take God away, we suck and you do too!
  • What does God want to do next in your church?
  • #1 passion is simply the presence of God

And Perry finally shared his story of playing Rugby while at Hillsong church in Australia.   After several times of getting hit while having the ball, he decided it would be better to stay away from the ball and not get hit.   But he realized you can’t advance down the field if you don’t have the ball.  As pastors, do we want the ball?   Or are we so afraid of getting hurt that we stand on the sidelines, unwilling to advance the ball down the field.

I don’t know about you, but I WANT THE BALL!!!  God has called me to lead, to preach and teach, and I don’t want to coast through life just getting by!

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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1 Response

  1. March 14, 2009

    RT @faithengineer New blog post: Reflections on the Unleash Afternoon Session http://tinyurl.com/btnnf5

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