My Head Hurts

My head hurts. Why you ask?

Headache? No.
Blunt blow to the skull? Nope.
De-hydration? Nah.

Sitting in a church planter's conference from 9:00 - 5:00 that was light on breaks and heavy on content? Yes.

Yesterday was amazing! My head is a Thanksgiving turkey crammed with the stuffing of information and quotes and ideas.

Here is a taste:

* There is more than one way to grow a church.
* It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.
* If a principle is biblical, it will work anywhere.
* Never confuse the method with the message. The message must never change, but the methods must continually change.
* It's not about church growth. It is about church health.
* We need to have the attitude of "We are a family expected guests"
* Churches can be driven by tradition, personalities, finances, buildings, programs, events, the un-churched, and many other bad forces.
* We must continually communicate the vision. The MVP of the World Series will go to spring training next year.
* It is all about balance.
* Goals help faith turn into facts.
* Pastors must help the church catch the vision. We must practice "creative redundancy"
* The major difference between church planting and church launching is that you plant small but you launch large.
* Priorities of a Purpose-Driven Church should be: #1: Purposes #2: People #3: Program #4: Property. Most churches focus too much on property.
* Jesus had a clear evangelistic target: Matt 15:24
* Paul had a clear evangelistic target: Gal 2:7
* Jesus gave the disciples a clear evangelistic target: Matt 10:5-6
* Most unchurched are not athesists. They are just turned off and too busy.
* The longer you have been a believer the less you think like one.
* We can be committed to building a church without building a building.
* More people are won to Christ because of feeling God's presence rather than understanding the right theology.

A few great quotes:
* The secret of concentration is elimination.
* God loves you and everyone has a plan for your life
* Without vision the people find another parish.
* Is what is hanging on the wall - happening down the hall? (Mission Statements)
* It is easier to turn a crowd into a core than turn a core into a crowd.
* Jesus sent us out to be wise and harmless. The church has nailed down the second one.
* Money spent on evangelism is never an expense - it is always an investment.
* Churches never really have money problems - they usually have idea problems.
* God's work done God's way will not lack God's support. - Hudson Taylor.
* The tension between "service" and "serve-us" exists in every church.
* If we send mixed signals we will get mixed results.
* Depth is action - doing the word not in knowing it. Don't judge a church my how deep the preaching is but rather how the members live.
* Internal announcements often become eternal announcements.
* If you want to take the temperature of your church - put the thermometer in your own mouth. (Pastors)
* We need to make our churches safe places to hear a dangerous message.
* Growing churches love and loving churches grow.
* The second half of a man's life is determined by the habits he acquired during the first half. - Dostoyevski


There was so much more. So much. Thanks for letting me down load some of this. My head feels better already.