Live Blog From 2014 Orange Conference – 71 Leadership Quotes From Senior Pastors Forum

This week I am being dispatched by Injoy Stewardship Solutions (ISS) to attend the 2014 Orange Conference.  In an effort to grow in my skills to better add value to pastors and church leaders, I will be live blogging throughout.

Today’s final breakout session was a Senior Pastors Forum featuring Derwin Gray, Mark Batterson, Geoff Surratt, Carey Nieuwhof, Ron Edmondson and Jeff Henderson.  The following are 71 leadership quotes covering a variety of leadership topics I captured during the session every pastor and church leader should read:  The initials of each speaker are by their quotes.

1. You made a huge impact with a thriving church on limited resources.  You never let anything be an obstacle. – CN to MB
2. It’s not about numbers.  It’s not about statistics.  When you hear that one story of that one person’s life who has been transferred by the grace of God, that’s what keeps you going. – MB
3. We start every meeting by sharing wins. – MB
4. We’ve got to create cultures where we’re celebrating that (stories of lives changed by the gospel.) – MB
5. When Christ grabbed my heart, all I knew is if Jesus could do this for me I must tell others about Him. – DG
6. What I love most about ministry is Jesus’ ministry to me. – DG
7. It’s very dangerous when we don’t love Jesus more than ministry and His ministry to us…if not ministry becomes an idol. – DG
8. I love the fact I’m able to do ministry with my kids. – JH
9. I love systems and I love strategies but I have to remember I do ministry for that one story. – RE
10. Are we going to play church or are we going to do church and reach this community? Changing these mindsets is a challenge. – RE
11. The biggest leadership challenge is me.  And battling my pride is an exhaustive thing. – JH
12. The church really isn’t about you. – JH
13. If you really want to check your ego get great leaders around you.  It forces you into the background.  –CN
14. You celebrate what God is doing in others but you leverage what He’s done in you.  – Andy Stanley
15. I feel inadequate often.  I was so afraid to plant Transformation Church. – DG
16. His grace is sufficient. – DG
17. At Transformation Church…Paul built local churches using Jew and Gentiles. – DG
18. Everybody’s angry about the Sterling guy but every weekend in America Sunday is the most segregated time in America. – DG
19. We need to stop bowing down to America capitalism as church success. – DG
20. Transformation Church is not a church for cool people but all people. – DG
21. All of us are doing God’s work but He’s opposing it because you’re operating in pride. – MB
22. Stay humble and stay hungry. – MB
23. I need to say, “No” to more things. – MB
24. Boundaries are a huge issue. – MB
25. I want to be famous to my kids. – MB
26. My definition of success – When those you know you best respect you most. – MB
27. Number your gratitudes.  #1 is my sin is nailed to the cross.  We still live as if Jesus is nailed to the cross.  He’s not.  My sin is nailed to the cross. – MB
28. I remember the first Easter 42 people showed up…I couldn’t have been more thrilled. – MB
29. The Mark I am right now is not the Mark that needs to lead this church two years from now. – MB
30. I don’t anything that keeps you on your knees like a dream too big for you to accomplish. – MB
31. I love the Word of God.  One of my biggest regrets over the last 18 years is I didn’t spend enough time in His Word apart from preparing sermons. – MB
32. Leaders are readers.  A book is worth about two years worth of life experience. – MB
33. Everyone can read a book a month.  Just put it in your bathroom. – MB
34. I read 200 books in a year but when you pastor 50 people you have time to do this. – MB
35. Reading the King James has rejuvenated my personal devotional time. – MB
36. Sermon preparation does not have anything to do with spiritual growth. – GS
37. I have to be part of a small group. – GS
38. I try to not be teaching what God is teaching me right now. – RE
39. If you read one chapter a day you’ll finish 2-3 books per month. – RE
40. I’m real careful the busier I am to get away. – RE
41. What is my unique rhythm of grace…The first one for me is John 15:6.  Am I abiding in Christ? – DG
42. All of life is worship.  I don’t bifurcate my sermon prep.  My sermon and Bible reading is worship.  Every jot and tittle is about Jesus. – DG
43. The Fruit of the Spirit is part of my discipline and growth. – DG
44. We can acquire skills but what good is it if we’re a jerkasouras. – DG
45. One of daily practices is remembering all of who I am is in all of who Christ is.  This keeps me from being a spiritual narcissist. – DG
46. When I was in my 30s it was all about competencies.  I learned competencies is not the issue, it’s character.  You’re competencies cannot exceed your character. – CN
47. I was celebrated for my competencies (in my third year in the NFL) but had a hole in my soul. – DG
48. We can define ourselves in ministry by outward success.  How do you treat the janitor? – DG
49. I grew up in the home of a pastor who had to preach three original sermons every week. – JH
50. My Heavenly Father was speaking through my earthly father and lives were being changed.  I never forgot that. – JH
51. Every single time you stand up to preach about Jesus, whether it’s 1 person or 100 people, eternity hangs in the balance. – JH
52. The better you prepare the better you preach. – JH
53. Leadership at some point comes with a microphone. – JH
54. There are more Kingdom dollars in unproductive churches than productive churches. – RE
55. There are more unproductive pastors than productive pastors right now. – RE
56. We (family including kids) did church together. – GS
57. We gave kids room to be themselves.  We said, “There’s no such thing as a pastor’s kid.” – GS
58. If you have to put up with everything you do as a pastor’s kid, you should get a benefit once in awhile. – GS
59. I think your kids (PKs) should occasionally have an advantage. – GS
60. I remembering preaching to 12 people when I was in college…I remember the church having seven pews.  What visionary built this church?..But I’d (still) stay up to 2 or 3 in the morning because I needed a word from God. – MB
61. I’d rather have one God idea than 1000 good ideas. – MB
62. I sometimes preach when I know there won’t be an honorarium.  And when volunteers show up I sometimes need to be there rolling up my sleeves. – MB
63. I wrote a book on prayer but he wrote the book on prayer. – MB on his father-in-law
64. The one thing you can’t delegate is prayer. – MB
65. The difference between the best you can do and the best God can do is prayer. – MB
66. All of who we are is wrapped up in Christ. – DG
67. I’m passionate about we as leaders being healthy. It seems like every week a leader is falling. – DG
68. God is raising up Transformation Church to build a network of churches that reflect their neighborhood. – DG
69. The New Heaven and New Earth looks more like a Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake concert than the church does. – DG
70. We don’t start with lost people we start with a glorius God. – DG
71. It hurts for me to think of people who are like I was for 26 years. – DG

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