Today at Victory we hosted the Significant Church Conference. I’ll just leave you with some of my favorite takeaways that I’m able to share:

• Why do the people that attend your church say that it exists? (It should be your vision)

• Small thinking and dreaming isn’t from God

• In Leadership you’ll either be an overseer or a doer, but never both.

• 4 Things we need to respect
• Peoples children, time, money, and relationships

• 4 Church Killers
• Legalism, the bizarre and insane, long services, and being too intense.

• Our goal isn’t to see through people, it’s to see them through!

• God wants to reach people through you more than you do (but our unbelief hinders us)

• #1 temptation of people in life is that God is withholding something from us.

• When we can’t be an example in leadership, we must become examples in repentance

• Bad cultures can last 6 minutes, hours, days, months, years, etc… We have to step in as leaders, believe in ourselves and the gifts God gave us, and turn that culture around

• Pastors of churches reaching the lost study 5x as much as pastors who aren’t

• Don’t see peoples faults, see their future. Don’t see peoples habits, see their hearts

I also got the opportunity to drive a pastor and youth leader to the airport after the conference. It was a wonderful time where I got to ask questions about ministry and just soak in wisdom from their experiences. I am grateful I had that opportunity. (I’ll share what I learned later).

There were plenty of more… these just of few of the great nuggets shared. One of the biggest themes that kept coming up in me was “it’s not about me”. Getting our eyes off of building our own “kingdoms” and focusing on setting people free with the Word of God and equipping them to go out and change the world through what God has placed in their hearts.

I’m really refocusing my life on caring about people. It’s so easy to get caught up in planning out and building ministries that we lose focus of what is really important in God’s eyes: people. My prayer lately has been Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours… let me to see people how you see them. Let me never become a person that says, “I love the ministry, I just can’t stand the people.”

As I’ve been growing I realize how right John the Baptist was when he said, “He must increase, I must decrease.” It really is all about Jesus . . . and that is what gets me going everyday.

I just got accepted into a Youth Leaders Mentoring Program that is led by Jeanne Mayo. I am really excited! It’s a year long mentoring program where I’ll be mentored in several ways including two trips to Atlanta, GA to Jeanne’s house! I’m pumped!! Atlanta will be a cool place to go because there are so many churches down there tearing it up, so perhaps I’ll get the chance to check some of them out to. Anyway…just a little praise report!

I’ll keep you filled in on things I’m learning throughout the year of mentoring!