Live Blog From Orange Conference ’15: 64 Leadership Quotes From Jeff Henderson, Carey Nieuwhof And More

In an effort to add value to pastors and church leaders, I am live blogging significant portions of this week’s Orange Conference and their amazing Senior Leader’ Track.  For pastors and church leaders, this is the most informative and thought-provocing three days you can spend all year.  It is “can’t miss” event for church leaders.

The afternoon’s first session was panel discussion from some of today’s top Christian leaders discussing with great transparency their personal leadership journey.  The panel consisted of Carey Nieuwhof, pastor of Connexus Church, Jeff Henderson,  lead pastor of Gwinnett Church, Joshua Gagnon, lead pastor of Next Level Church, and Jenni Catron, executive pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

Before getting to Carey’s thoughts on why churches stop growing, INJOY Stewardship Solutions is offering a FREE download of Church Branding 101.  In this resource Ken Wilson, Director of NewSpring Creative, will be walking us through NewSpring Church’s recent rebranding process.  If you are unfamiliar with NewSpring, they are led by friend-of-Orange Senior Pastor Perry Noble.  You do not want to miss this.  Click here or on the image above to sign up.  Now onto their insights.

The following are 64 Leadership Quotes and Lessons from these amazing Christian leaders:

1. To lead myself well to lead others better. – JC
2. The more my leadership increases, the more I need to retreat to be with God. – JC
3. When you start a church you endure pain and conflict and I thought it would go away. – JG
4. Pain is a consistent companion. – JG
5. It never feels like you think it’s going to feel when something other than God’s purpose is driving you. – JG
6. I do this for Him period. When I do this and mean it, ministry is really fulfilling. – JG
7. When the staff is looking at me and we’ve got to have an answer, I have to say sometimes, “I don’t know” and we still move ahead. – JH
8. If you have great dreams, you’re going to have great uncertainty. – JH
9. We’re going to move ahead even if we don’t know how it’s going to turn out. – JH
10. Our roles are very public. People get to see you and I fail and you have to be comfortable with that. – JH
11. You never really arrive. – JC
12. The drive for accomplishment sometimes prevent us for looking within. – JC
13. The fastest way to forget what God thinks of you is to focus on what everyone else does. – JG
14. It’s hard not to take it personally when people leave your church. – JH
15. You have to cast vision for those who are left. – JH
16. Ministry makes it much more difficult to connect with God. – JH
17. I’ve got to separate the job from my spiritual life. – JH
18. It’s quite difficult for me to just go to church. – JC
19. Everyday at work, we’re so much closer to the stories of life change. – JC
20. I often think “What’s it feel like to go to church?” – JG
21. I’ve even found myself evaluating weddings. – JH
22. I’ve become aware of my personality and the indwelling of God in my life. – JG
23. You cannot become a better leader without begging God for His help in your church. Outside of God I’m a mess. – JG
24. Sometimes things feel like a luxury because my soul is starved for God. – JC
25. In ministry leadership, we can end up with people who aren’t brave enough to ask us that question (about their relationship with God). – JC
26. Spiritual formation is part of my job for our staff, not just our church. – CN
27. There is a connection between your physical disciplines and your spiritual disciplines. – JH
28. If I get out of synch in my schedule, I can get out of synch with God. – CN
29. All of us get the same amount of time everyday. – CN
30. Saying “Yes” to the wrong things (biggest challenge to my time). – JH
31. Do what only I can do and let others do what only they can do. – JG
32. Pastor people at the level they entered into the ministry. – JG
33. We don’t just manage our time. We manage our energy. – JH
34. I need a system and a schedule that manages my energy. – JH
35. Managing our energy and wiring is serving people better. – JC
36. Pre-book your time and book appointments with yourself. – CN
37. If you write “Family” on your calendar you can tell people you have a commitment on that day. And it you don’t do that, you’ll lose your family. – CN
38. Email, it’s evil. – JC
39. I don’t react to email. It’s a communication tool to help me with my job. – JC
40. Email doesn’t drive me. I drive it. – JC
41. If this week is a success, what three things need to happen this week? – JH
42. You’re never going to protect anything you’re not intentionally protecting. – JG
43. The best way to love your kids is to love each other. – JG
44. You are driving home to your most important ministry. – JH
45. What you model is what your staff is repeating. – JC
46. When your church is small you have to be out all the time and cast vision so you don’t have to be out all the time. – CN
47. Don’t use my spouse as a lightening rod. – JG
48. We don’t talk bad about people. – JG
49. It helps when your family and spouse love the church. – JH
50. We have to steward the fact that our family loves the church. – JC
51. We (my husband and I) have to carve out time together and be relentless about that. – JC
52. If your common ground is only your kids, eventually they move out. – CN
53. One of the scariest place in leadership is being vulnerable but also championing the vision. – JG
54. God called me to be Josh Gagnon. If I measure myself against Andy Stanley, I will wind up in a fetal position. – JG
55. I found myself comparing my everyday to everyone else’s highlight reel. – JG
56. It feels anticlimactic when I say, “Carey, you’re called to be Carey.” – CN
57. The person we want to be like have endured the pain we have yet to endure. – JG
58. There have been times I couldn’t see the truth…I couldn’t see the evidence of God’s work. – JC
59. Some of the dark nights have been some of my most meaningful moments with God. – JC
60. When I’m healthiest on my heart monitor is when the (biking) parts aren’t easy. – CN
61. When the speedometer is the lowest is when I’m getting the healthiest. – CN
62. What kills a lot of leaders is isolation. – CN
63. Solitude is a gift from God. Isolation is of the enemy. – CN
64. It is a dangerous place for a pastor when you’re grieving and supposed to be leading at the same time. – JH

One more session from Carey on high-capacity volunteers to come this afternoon.

Subscribe to this site and get my latest FREE eBook Skinny Jeans And A Tattoo Does Not Make You A Leader.  Featuring leaders like Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels and Perry Noble, this resource includes 999 additional leadership quotes from the 2014 Double, Global Leadership Summit, and Catalyst  Conferences.  Click HERE or on the image to the left to sign up and get your FREE resource.