I’ve been wanting to read this book by Craig Groeschel since it came out last year. I finally got the opportunity to pick it up at the Catalyst West Coast Conference. The tag line of the book is “It: How Churches and Leaders can Get it and Keep It.” The book talks about why some churches, some leaders, etc. seem to have “it” and some don’t. You can’t really define “it” and if I tried I would say it’s spiritual momentum. Craig provides some incredible insight to the behind the scenes of ministry and leadership. This book should be a requirement for anyone going into ministry or in a leadership role. Here are a few of my highlights:

• When a ministry hahs it, most things the leaders try seem to work
• As a leader you must hear from God on things like: Why does your organization exist? What can your organization be the best in the world at? If you could do only one thing what would it be? What breaks your heart and keeps you awake at night?
• An effective vision will always be memorable, portable,  motivational.”
  
• Those who attempt to do everything always lost it
• Your team must understand the vision(big picture), have fun together, and get naked together (read for context!),celebrate wins together, and fight hard behind closed doors together.
  

• God has given you everything you need to do everything He wants you to do
• Failure is not an option. It is essential. If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sure sign you’re not trying anything very innovative.”
• Failure somehow relieves the pressure to succeed at everything
• Do you love the lost? Churches and leaders that have “it” love.
• God won’t let a ministry keep “it” for long if they won’t give “it” away.

It’s hard to limit this book to a few highlights because you need to read every page to get the full context, but I hope that you’ll trust me that if you’re a ministry leader – you need to read this book.

Final Grade: A    Buy it Here

So Catalyst West Coast Has come and gone… What an incredible conference! Changed my life.

Here are some highlights from the talks in day 2:

Craig Groeschel

• Romans 12:2 – Don’t be conformed to the American dream!
• Don’t rely on the package of your church… Trust in the power of the Gospel
• Lukewarm Pastors build Lukewarm Churches
• Church should be a safe place with a dangerous message
• Build your church on what you’re about, not on what you’re not
• Don’t build your ministry and church – build the Kingdom
• Don’t blame yourself for the declines, you might take credit for the increases
• When your identity is in the numbers, you won’t obey God
• How can you accept the term ” ” when there are 4 billion people that don’t know Christ?
• We’re a small church with a mega vision
• People want to join a big mission, not a big building
• Level 1 Believers – Believe in the Gospel enough to benefit from it
• Level 2 Believers – Believe in the Gospel enough to contribute comfortably
• Level 3 Believers – Believe in the Gospel enough to give their lives to it

Erwin McManus

• Our job is unleash people to do good, not just stop them from doing bad
• At your church, can people discover the power to be who they are?
• Before we were pounded into the ordinary, we dreamed of the extra ordinary
• We need to be more committed to the dreams of other, than to our own dreams
• Small acts may not change the world, but they can tilt it to go in the right direction
• Our job as spiritual leaders is to detonate obstacles in the way of others dreams

Rick Warren

• Healthy churches don’t grow fast… fast growth= cancer
• If you don’t  care about numbers you’re telling people  to go to Hell
• We need to Divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually – the world can get along without you
• A crowd is not a church
• Nobody is the model… Jesus is thee model
• Never Compare – Foolish comparison: 1.) Find people better – discouraged 2.) Find people your better than – Pride
• Jesus isn’t going to ask you “How come you weren’t more like your hero? He made us to be us… He doesn’t need doubles
• Learn from Everybody
• The simpler you get, the more God will use you
• Judge your church on it’s sending capacity
• We need to be interested in an army, not a crowd
• You can fake love for a year or two, but you can’t fake it for 30!

Francis Chan

• If you hear pastors name more than God’s name when people are talking – we’re missing it
• We’re picky about going to ball games, plays, restaurants, etc…. People are the same way with our churches
• You can talk people into making a decision… but you’ll have to keep talking them into everything else
• I hate the book of Acts, you never put it down and say, “That sounds like our church!”

Perry Noble

• The size of the vision God will give me is directly related to the amount of pain and discomfort I’m willing to endure
• W/o pain and discomfort – we don’t know how much we need Him
• Dry times allow you to experience God’s provision
• When we learned to be obsessed and desperate for God and trust Him, that’s when we’ll succeed
• We don’t give into God’s vision because of: 1.) Fear 2.)  Laziness 3.) Being obsessed with being discovered instead of Development
• If you’re still where you are, you’re not ready for the next level
• Leadership is as easy as listening to God!
• If you haven’t had a sleepless night over vision – you don’t have a vision from God
• What would you do for God if you knew you couldn’t fail? -> Your a coward if you don’t do that
• Are you scared? If not, God isn’t in it, because you could do it yourself
• Listen to Jesus and when you’re ready – He’ll blow your freaking mind!
• Don’t you dare give up on a God who’s never given up on you

I’ll  probably have a post or two on my whole experience at Catalyst – God changed my life… man! So excited!