when TD Jakes walked in this morning, i wondered what kind of preacher gets to have a personal keyboardist during your sermon, along with an entourage that rolls 5 or 6 deep. well now i know – the kind who moves 4000 pastors to their feet applauding for you because of the way you share your message.

i don’t think i realize just how badly i needed to hear the things the bishop was saying this morning about churches and leadership. and i’m sure i’ll need to hear these things again in 5 years, and again 5 years after that. this won’t do justice at all, but here’s some soundbytes:

-the personality of a church reflects the personality of its leader.
-the gospel is anything but simple. it is profound and complex, understood only by revelation. Jesus’ closest friends didn’t even get it.
-the disciples were shocked when Jesus went to the cross…before giving them their promotions. they didn’t get it.
-most leaders are only revered once they die. be controversial. go into unadventured territory.
-like the disciples, we have the audacity to teach Jesus about Himself.
-Jesus didn’t memorize scripture. He didn’t have to memorize what He was.
-the beginning of wisdom for a leader is to realize that you don’t know as much as you think you do. don’t burn down the school just because you think you graduated.
-leadership is spelled “loneliness.”
-*He TOOK the bread. BLESSED it. BROKE it. and GAVE it to them. TOOK, BLESSED, BROKE, GAVE. that’s the same pattern he uses throughout scripture…for the loaves and fish, with Abraham, Joseph, David, Jesus…each of us, in that order. brokenness is where we learn the most about God and are most prepared for leadership.
-God did not call you to your church, but to your generation. realize that’s who you’re standing before on sunday mornings.

we then hit up some breakout sessions and skipped out early to come back to the pebble and hang out with our families. now i start digesting it all. what’s a leadership quality that is especially important to you?

just in case any of you are curious, here’s a couple pics of the audio/lighting toys:

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there were also two gigantosaurus HD front projectors with super-duper long throw lenses (like 150 feet?). i’m not sure where the video direction was happening, but i’m sure all these guys worked their tails off for this shindig. here’s what they were working with from the stage:

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here’s a danger with going to church conferences like the one i’m at. i can’t speak for the other church leaders seated here with me in a 4300 seat auditorium, but I know that i tend to come in and immediately do one of two very unhealthy things (both of which dangerously stem from the act of comparing). i’ve already found myself doing these things…ouch.

1. COPY. the churches who host conferences like this usually have it goin’ on. there’s a reason they’re hosting a conference–they’ve done one or two things right and they have something to share. it’s easy to come in, see what they’re doing and want to take it back home and do the same thing. that feels only natural. the problem? it’ll fail. little rock is not dallas. different people, different city, different leadership, different culture…

2. CRITICIZE. it’s almost easier for me to come in and insist that the church proves itself to me. often i find myself sitting back and being quick to judge the methods (or the staff) of that church – thinking through what I would do differently, what i would never do, what i think i could do better. man there is nothing more arrogant! who am i to ever assume that God doesn’t have something to teach me?

(some notes from all the talks)

one highlight of the day: Perry Noble, pastor of newspring church in Anderson, SC. in his refreshingly in-your-face way, he was telling us not to believe the lies that we try really hard to believe as ministry leaders. the biggest lie – “what we do doesn’t really matter.” that lie sounds really good when we botch a sermon or a song – but it’s just a cushion we make up to fall on. he assured us that the most powerful people in the world are not presidential candidates, they’re not celebrities or senators. they’re the people that are gathered in our churches on Sunday mornings. they are why Jesus came. what we do as their leaders matters immensely. the Church is the only institution Jesus cared about in His lifetime. perry boiled it down to three questions (rooted in matthew 17:1-8): What type of environment are we creating for people to see Jesus for who He is? Are we making up vision, or are we getting it from God? Do we realize that Jesus is the only thing that can change our world?

what do you most want to feel when you walk into a church for the first time?

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so 15 of us who work the ins and outs of worship at FBC have traveled down here to Dallas, TX for Fellowship Church’s Creative Church Conference. now, churches come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. i love getting to see how different churches take shape- – -what they embrace, how they reflect it, what people there experience, how they design a lobby, all of that.

on our way to the conference, we stopped by Irving Bible Church. (many thanks to Russ and Camron and all the great guys there for letting us wander their spaces and peg them with questions). they do a great job with keeping things simple, but not at the expense of some sweet innovation and vision. walk through their building and you feel what it is that drives them all around you. ibc’s spaces felt simple yet deep, reflective, art-driven, they use very conventional equipment and methods. they take pride in their simplicity. it was obviously who they are, and it felt authentic. experience it here.

next, we landed at the first session of the c3 conference at fellowship church in grapevine, which is where we’ll be these next few days. fellowship approaches things in a very different way than ibc — not any better or worse, just different (like i said, i love seeing what different churches get excited about and how it’s reflected in the way they do things). fellowship had 4 lines of VERY energetic greeters to welcome me from their big parking lot to the auditorium. there were decorative rocks in the basins of the bathroom sinks (really!), along with aromatherapy soap (i indulged). there was a dj spinnin’ in the lobby. the music was big, the stage was big, the lights were big. it involved lots of expensive jeans and very energetic (and talented) worship leaders (none more energetic than pastor ed young). admittedly, i’m initially conflicted with this much production  on stage, but i don’t exactly know why. i do know that it’s only because of my own experiences which create prejudices. i’m still curious to see more from the way-talented guys here at fellowship. these guys work hard and they do things very well. and like ibc, they too are driven by a big-time vision and are doing everything they can to work toward it.

i had plenty more initial observations, but this is my “takeaway” from ed young’s talk: “our goal is not to get more creative, because creativity has already been given to us by God. it’s ours. our goal should be to find and remove the barriers that get in the way of our creativity.” so that’s what i’m noodling on right now. what barriers keep us from unleashing our creativity?