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Tommy Barnett
The Honor of Wanting to Quit

• If you’ve ever wanted to quit, you’re in good company
• Jeremiah – wanted to give up but the fire burned too deep
• Abraham – depression came
• Peter – denied the Lord and even cursed God
• John the Baptist – asked Jesus are you the Christ
• Spurgeon – criticism came, bouts of depression
• Churchill – depression
• All the great men I’ve ever known have had moments of wanting to quit

Statements on quiting
1. Wanting to quit is a sign of success
• successful people are the only ones that want to quit b/c they have something to quit

2. The more you have to quit, the more you want to quit
• the higher you go, the lonelier it becomes, the scarier it becomes

3. You can enjoy the luxury of wanting to quit if you know you’re not going to quit
• a burden comes and goes but it is the call of God that gets you up
• don’t enter into ministry based on a burden…it has to be the call of God

How Not to Quit
1. Burn the bridges behind you
• You have to burn the bridges of all other desires
2. Don’t tell anyone you want to quit
3. Hang around people that you want to be like
4. If you don’t want to quit, lock yourself in so that you can’t quit
• David’s heart was fixed on God

Great men are just ordinary men that wouldn’t quit

written by admin

dude, I think I experienced some of the best mexican food I have ever had. From the salsa and chips to the gigantor enchilada that I had today, it was VERY good. If you’re at C3, Esparza’s is located in downtown Grapevine, just off of Main Street.

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Brian Houston
Can you see the elephant
Empowering people as a leader

The capacity to empower people is one of the greatest gifts a pastor and leader can have
1. Sometimes as leaders we have to adjust our step/our path to get people work with us
• Empowering is the language of the gospel
• Our churches should be empowering environments
• In order to lead and impact for the Gospel, in every sphere of life
• When we live in an environment of empowerment, creativity thrives
• One of the greatest joys in ministry is seeing someone in ministry that you’ve had an impact on and they are empowered and moving in ministry
• To empower, you have to have a “Big Kingdom” Spirit
• Many leaders cannot see the potential in people b/c they are too big in the frame
• When as a leader it becomes about me, it limits people being empowered for ministry
• In honor, prefer one another….in the message paraphrase: practice taking second place

2. If you want to be an empowering leader, you have to have a culture of permission
• encourage leaders and staff to say yes
• you build a culture where people can thrive
• Psalm 92:13 – those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God
• It is the will of God for people in our churches to flourish
• Can people in our churches have the opportunity to flourish and grow

3. Balance between grace and challenge/stretch
• In a culture of empowerment there has to be that balance
• Paul and Peter in the NT, if you look at their letters, they all began with grace (grace to you) but at some point they all move to challenge, stretching the audience

• People who have a heart for the house of God are the best to bring on staff
• People like that are often volunteers that will come from and grow up in your own church
• An empowering environment will often be exemplified by a heart that honors the old, promote the new, continuing to learn (some are so busy telling that they total miss the opportunity to learn from others)
• Cause, Mission, Vision – people that are empowered understand these in your church and what they are

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Dude…Perry seriously brought it. Creekers, we need to firm up our numbers and our names for Unleash. If it is anything like what he brought today….wow!

Here are the notes and highlights:
Perry Noble
Matthew 17
• If we believe lies, they hold us captive and we’ll tell others and keep them captive
• Leaders – we often believe the lie that what we do doesn’t matter
• When it comes to the church, what we do matters

1. the environments that we create matter
• If you are attending a church that you wouldn’t attend if you weren’t on staff, then something needs to change in the environments
• Matthew 17:1-3 – Jesus was transfigured, moses and Elijah showed up. Peter, James and John were able to see Jesus in a way they could truly understand.
• It’s our job on Sunday to offer God the very best. You don’t have to be like anyone else.
• Environments need to be places where people can see Jesus for who He is.

2. Vision matters – Matthew 17:4
• Peter said it is good for US to be here….let’s build 3 shelters
• In other words, Peter didn’t have a vision to take this past the mountain
• If we have an environment that’s exciting, we can go out and tell people who Jesus is
• What kind of people do you have showing up at your church
• That will show what your real vision is
• (v. 5) – a cloud enveloped the mountain and a voice said this is my Son with whom I’m well pleased. Listen to Him – in other words, listen to the one who is giving the vision
• God gives the vision and it happens in your personal time with the Lord
• If you ever can’t support the vision of your senior pastor, then leave them
• (vv 6-7) when the disciples fell facedown, they fell down terrified, but Jesus came to them and said get up and don’t be afraid

1. Jesus first told them “get up” – we need encouragement, some are ready to give up and quit. It’s time to get up and get on with the vision.
2. Jesus told them to not be afraid. When you start working from vision, there will be issues.

3. Jesus matters –
• churches often become issue focused vs. Jesus focused
• It’s not my job to be anti-anything
• It is my job to be pro-Jesus
• (v.8) When they looked up, they saw noone except Jesus
• when you stand in front of your church on Sunday that is the most powerful people on the earth because of Jesus in and through them

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Mac Richard
Subject: accountability
• Accountability doesn’t just happen, you have to want it
• Hebrews 10:24 – let us consider how we can spur one another on to love and good deeds
• Community = love
• Responsibility = good deeds
• All leadership radiates out of the intersection of love and good deeds
• Spur leaders get built under the hammer and heat
• If you don’t have some turnover on your staff, then something is wrong
• Leadership is not flat…there is a hierarchy
• Sometimes leadership is lonely b/c there is a hierarchy
• Here’s how you fire somebody:

1. Set the bar – when you set the bar with someone, included some subjective standards like joy
2. Guard the bar – don’t move the bar to make people feel better
3. When the bar is missed often, fire them generally (don’t get into specifics) and directly.
4. Dismiss them gracefully, including compensation
5. Avoid the backlash

• As a leader, you are responsible for guarding the integrity of your staff and church
• Proverbs 27:23 “give careful attention to your herds” – on your staff and your church, you must measure what matters
• If you love people, you will measure their performance
• God will measure our fruit

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Ed talked about the elephant in the room of betrayal. To illustrate this, they had an elephant out front.

Danny checking out the turntables of the DJ that plays during breaks. Pretty cool vibe.

written by admin

Here are some of my notes and highlights from the first two seesions at C3. Hopefully they will make sense:

- Subject: Betrayal
- Big Idea: there is a big elephant in the room when it comes to church leadership: betrayal
- Story of Joseph
- Joseph in the pit of betrayal – Gen 37
- “pit” happens when you lead
- everyone in the room is either pre-pit, in the pit, post pit
- my enemies can’t betray me…only those that I’m close to, that I’m friends with
- there’s always a Judas at your table, and he’ll always be close enough to kiss you
- a lot of the stuff about leadership (training, tips, books, conferences) comes from experience withe issue of betrayal
- Joseph was betrayed by his brothers
- Gen 37:3 – Joseph’s brothers felt betrayed by their father so they wanted Joseph to feel as betrayed as they did
- Joseph began to share his vision with his brothers and it got him in trouble
- there’s a time to share your vision and a time to hush
- sharing vision to early, too often, and with the wrong people it feeds the fires of betrayal
- envy engineers and fosters betrayal
- when in the pit, it is important to move from why me? to what now?
- favor of God is not fair, some people are just favored and blessed – we need to support them and encourage them
- Joseph’s brothers used goat blood to betray their brother to their father…their father used goat’s fur to betray his father
- Psalm 40:1-4 – in betrayal, in the pit are you waiting patiently - “many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”
- People are looking to how you respond in the pit
- when you’re in the pit, are you hanging with the adders or the ladders? Adder is a snake, beware those that want to inject bitterness and negativity during the pit, too often become like that ourselves in the pit. Ladders – people who are positive, they say let me help you, let me encourange, assist, care for you – their focus is on God, they’re pointing you to God
- the bigger the blessing, the bigger the betrayal: when God is about to bless, watch around the corner for it when you are in the betrayal
- Joseph’s abilities and skills were not enough to take him to the next level alone because his integrity and character was not there yet
- once your character and talent sync up, God will begin to take you to a whole nother’ level
- as a leader, you are in character training….always
- if you are on staff and are ready to do your own thing, be patient b/c God is working on your character and is preparing you
- Joseph was promoted because of endurance but most of all b/c LOYALTY: he way loyal to potiphar, loyal to pharaoh, he was in character school
- God hasn’t forgotten about you…he’s waiting for your talent and character to sync up
- true success is found in living in the will of God, that’s success
- potiphar was married to hotiphar, when you’re in the favor of God, you will be tempted
- Joseph was loyal….we have to be loyal to God and loyal to each others
- it’s easy to be disloyal but we have to get under the things that God has placed over us so that we can get over the things that God has placed under us (authority)
- breaking you down to breaking you out to breaking you through to a new level
- where are you now?
- Joseph brothers came back to him during famine
- joseph had the ability to strike them down
- betrayers will come to a point of a famine of the soul
- gen 50:20 – “He brought me to this position so that I could save the lives of many people.”
- Betrayal will separate the players from the posers
- Watch and see who believes the lies after betrayal
- church structure is huge (bylaws and constitution): when betrayal hits you’re able to cover it
- In Joseph’s life, one act of betrayal led to the salvation of a nation
- In Jesus’ life, one act of betrayal led to the salvation of everyone

written by admin

We’re in Dallas. Tonight we went over to fellowship church for a precursor worship service. Conference registration begins at 8 am so we’ll be cranking bright & early. The worship and the production values were off the charts….just incredible. Ed communicated a message on some basic vision stuff. Was a very good evening of worship. We capped off the evening with some Häagen-Dazs…MAN! I had this caramel ice cream that was incredible. I’ve eaten way too much today

Few quick hits:

• Our flight was pretty good on the way out. Smaller jet. Two seats, aisle, one seat.
• Okay, first, they took away the meal from the flight. Now, they have taken away the snack. We were told that they would be serving soft drinks, coffee and juice. However, if we wanted some cashews, we could pay $3.00 for a bag of them. And we could have our own “personal” water bottle for $3.00…..RIIIIIIIIIIIGGHHHTTT
• I love the Gaylord Texan. If you ever get a chance to stay here, do so.
• I totally forgot to pack a heavy winter coat for Chicago on Saturday. Richard said that the temps with windshield yesterday was -8 degrees….this boy’s going to head over to the bass pro shop for some serious fleece.
• I’m out…more tomorrow from C3.

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I love summer time blockbusters. There are few things I enjoy doing more than Kim and I headed to a summer movie, big tub of popcorn, coke and a good movie…or at least a movie that all the ads promise will be “The biggest hit of the summer”. Here’s one that I’m really looking forward to seeing. The Dark Knight with Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger as the joker. I like the new batman with Christian Bale. Not quite as cartoonish as the original batman movies. Although, it is going to be hard to top Jack Nicholson as the joker.

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Excited about this week. On Wednesday, Bill Bentley, Richard Swift, Danny Neu and me are heading out to Dallas to Fellowship Church for the C3 conference. This is a great conference where you’ll be challenged, stretched, encouraged and get to simply be a sponge to some very good teaching. I’ll be blogging live from the event as I can as that will be how I take notes. I can type much faster than I can write. I’ll be there from Wednesday through Friday. Then Saturday, Richard and I will be heading up to Chicago for the New Work Multi-Site Practicum until Tuesday of next week. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to learn, grow and be stretched. I’m hoping and expecting God to speak to me about the next steps in my life and ministry or just whatever He wants from me. I’ll keep you posted on some of the highlights along the way.

written by admin