91 Leadership Quotes On Shaping The Next Generation

Earlier today I had the privilege of attending the Shaping The Next Generation Conference in Atlanta, GA.  Put on by Family Life Ministries and host by Ernie Johnson, Jr., this event featured my pastor Dr. Crawford Loritts of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA.

Bryndon Loritts, Brian Dodd, Dr. Crawford Loritts

He was joined by his two sons, Bryan Loritts, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church Memphis, and Bryndon Loritts, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Nashville.

On a side note, Ernie Johnson Jr. is the real deal.

The following are the leadership quotes and lessons taught during this amazing conference.

Ernie Johnson Jr.

1. I walked on as a baseball player as a freshman…and asked to walk-off as a sophomore.
2. Sometimes you need to step away from the game for blackberry moments.  Because while everyone is telling you this is the most important thing, God is saying, “No. I’ve got something better for you.”
3. There are things God has put out there and if we’re busy, we miss them.

Crawford Lorrits – Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA

1. The real impact of what we do is determined by the next generation.
2. We erode our future because we make temporary decisions that rob us from a time we cannot see.
3. Ernie is not defined by what he does but he brings definition to it.

Bryndon Lorrits – Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Nashville, TN spoke from II Timothy 1.3-7

1. We are living in a world where they want you to stand a certain way.
2. You are not who the culture says you are.  You are not who Oprah says you are.  You are not who Dr. Phil says you are.  You are who God says you are.
3. The reason I’m serving God is because He’s done so much in my life.
4. You are who you are because somebody invested in your life.
5. God forgive us of spiritual amnesia because we forgot where we came from.
6. God serves His meals on clean plates.  I cannot manage my sin and expect God to do miracles in my life.  God does not do miracles in shallow waters.
7. We must first embrace and intercede for those God has entrusted to us.
8. One of the most challenging things is the lack of prayer in our churches.
9. When our wives look at us can they say our lives are dominated by God.
10. Stand in the gap where there is an absence of Christ.
11. We’ve got to be the father to the fatherless.
12. Have an open chair at your dinner table.
13. The greatest sermon we can ever preach is our lives.
14. If we are sitting on the gifts God has given us we are sitting in sin.
15. The Holy Spirit ain’t no punk.  That’s bad English but good theology.
16. He specializes doing the impossible…He specializes in doing the powerful.
17. Can my wife say, “My husband loves me unconditionally?”  Can our children say, “My dad loves me unconditionally?”
18. Let the Holy Spirit develop Christ-like character in you.
19. All I can rely on is what God did.  Sometimes you have to go back to what God did to find refreshment in your present condition.
20. We’ve got to resolve today I’m going to surrender, I’m not going to quit, and I’m going to invest in another young man for Christ.

Ernie Johnson Jr.

1. For a long time what I did was who I was.
2. When I wasn’t paying attention to Him, he was paying attention to me.
3. On a daily basis, I stand and I’m just in awe of how God orchestrates life.
4. Michael (his son with muscular dystrophy) doesn’t say much but he says, “Love you too.”
5. “I want him to teach my kids two things – a heart for others and maximum effort.” – Michael’s high school basketball coach
6. God is using us every day to write modern-day parables.
7. God uses a basketball coach to use a high school kid to teach others “I love you too.”
8. I used to wake up every Monday morning just hoping my name was in the USA Today…What am I doing living my life for someone one.

Bryan Lorrits – Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Memphis, TN spoke from Philippians 2

1. I ain’t talking about Calvin to a dude with no job trying to figure it out.
2. There is an epidemic of boys in a man’s body sitting on their mama’s couch playing video games.
3. Adolescence is wanting the privileges of adulthood without the responsibilities.  It is the #1 issue in our churches and society today.
4. Why is shacking up on the rise?  It appears to the adolescent mindset.
5. The recipe for an adolescent 30-something – passive dads and coddley moms.
6. Timidity is passivity.  Humility is not.
7. Paul gives us a framework for disciple-making that is not just spiritual.  It is profoundly sociological.
8. Adolescent boys thrive in middle and upper-middle class families.
9. It is interesting that you never read great biographies on successful people’s kids…They are not on the same trajectory (struggle) as you were.
10. You have robbed them of the very thing that made you great – the gift of struggle.
11. Passive people are too concerned about what will think of me when I turn up the heat.
12. Jesus was not passive.
13. All sin flows from the fountainhead of pride.
14. The most invasive question Christians must ask is, “Why?”
15. In Memphis, the only school bumper stickers I see are from private schools.  Those bumper stickers are not about the kids.
16. Two faces of greed – the spending face.  the hoarding face.
17. As a preacher, God what are you saying to me before I speak to “we”.
18. Social media isn’t narcissistic.  People are.  You have to be careful or you become the star of your own reality show.
19. It’s almost impossible to offend a humble person.  Humble people don’t hold on to rights.
20. As followers of Jesus Christ, we never stop paying our dues.
21. If you put two men together their natural inclination is to compete.
22. Show me a harsh person and I’ll show you a person who has a low view of humanity.
23. In relationships, I tend to gravitate to the significant.
24. I’m Brian and I’m ruthlessly addicted to self.
25. Humility equals harmony.
26. If you lead with your own agenda it’s going to kill your marriage.
27. Ali was never a humble person.  Any reason he’s on his fourth marriage.
28. If you see a trail of broken relationships, me killed we.
29. Essentially pride is taking what rightfully belongs to God and ascribing it to me.
30. Jesus could have coerced us into the Kingdom.  He loved us into Kingdom without losing his status.
31. God gives a blessing to you so He can be a blessing through you.
32. I’m to meet my kids needs, not their greeds.

Crawford Loritts, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA

1. My biggest concern was coming across as if we’ve arrived as some place.
2. I want to give you hope that it ain’t over until it’s over.
3. I can’t take credit for the good choices my kids made.
4. Every child is born with two broad categories of emotional needs  – daily touches, affirmation, hugs, nurture tenderness.  Not exclusively but primarily that’s the role of the mother.  Paradoxically, ever child is born with a need for denial and disciple.  Not exclusively but primarily that’s the role of the father.
5. All nurture and no discipline leads to destructive behavior.
6. The doorway to discipline is the father.  There is a reason why the man is created.  There is a reason why the man is the head of the household.
7. When God wants to create movement from one generation to the next He looks to the man…That is why Satan has attacked manhood in this generation.
8. We have to live for that which matters most.  The Bible calls this the will of God.
9. You cannot be a leader in our church unless you are a desired destination at which others wish to arrive.
10. God does not ask men if they want to lead.  God does not negotiate.  The fact you are a male means there is a prophetic side to who you are.
11. “We should never be afraid to fail.  We should be scared to death at succeeding at what doesn’t really matter.” – Francis Chan
12. What should matter is not living by assumption but living by divine initiative.  I don’t dictate to God but rather I’m a position of dependance.
13. What matters most is that I was a portrait of the will of God in my moment in history.
14. I want my time, my moment in history, to be the autobiography of God.
15. The resource is not in you.  The resource is in God.
16. It’s not what you know.  It’s Who you know.  Under whose authority are you living your life?  Under whose authority are you parenting?
17. Some of us are going through hell in our homes and with our families because we’re operating under our own authority.
18. When you do God’s will you bring His presence with you.
19. Those of us who are middle-class parents need to be very careful.  We are raping the next generation of what they need.  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
20. “God is good in the good times.  And God is good in the bad times.” – Tony Dungy
21. People who live life immersed in the will of God live noble lives.  Nobility is what is absolutely right but utterly uncommon to my moment in history.
22. The only thing that makes history make sense is when it’s driven by the eternal.
23. If you want to live your footprints in the sands of time, you’ve got to wear your work boots.
24. Faithfulness is long obedience in the same direction.
25. Transparency is your friend as a father.

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