Catalyst ’15 – 56 Leadership Quotes From Reggie Joiner

As a member of the Catalyst Blog Team and INJOY Stewardship Solutions, I will be bringing you live updates from the much anticipated Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA.  The theme for this year’s conference is Awaken The Wonder.

Catalyst always begins by conducting a series of Labs on Wednesday for church leaders.  Today’s first session was conducted by Reggie Joiner, Founder and CEO of one of my favorite organizations Orange.  As usual, he inspired and stretched us.  The following are 56 Leadership Quotes and Lessons from this amazing session.

Also, before reading, make sure you check out the announcement from INJOY Stewardship Solutions shown below about a FREE webinar on October 13th for churches needing to raise capital in 2016.  Now onto Reggie’s thoughts:

1. At every phase of life, there are significant relationships that show up that make the difference in keeping us stuck or unstuck.
2. The idea of friendships and relationships were forever defined by a song.
3. Brain Growth, Changing Hormones, Body Odor – 3 Things Pre-Schoolers and Middle Schoolers have in common.
4. Do you know who has more wonder in your church than anyone else?
5. Who still believes God is a big, amazing God? Most of your children have not grown out of that.
6. If you’re going to build a church that’s dynamic, that begins by building the right kind of children’s and student ministry.
7. Some of the most incredible volunteers in your church are those who show up to work with children, young adults and college students.
8. Sometimes we go through life and miss the things we can learn from children.
9. It’s Just A Phase, So Don’t Miss It.
10. If we don’t miss something as adults, it might mean the kids and teenagers don’t miss the phase either.
11. Phase is a timeframe in a kid’s life when you can leverage distinctive opportunities to influence their future.
12. Life is moving so fast. We have to pause and say, “We won’t miss this.”
13. We miss phases because we don’t see what we don’t see.
14. In every phase there is a crisis that drives the questions people are asking.
15. The crisis for birth is birth. Am I safe?
16. The crisis for the 2^nd grader is a comparison crisis. Do I have what it takes?
17. The crisis for 6^th graders is puberty. Who do I like? Who likes me? Acceptance. How do I fit in?
18. The crisis for the 10^th grader is freedom. Why should I believe?
19. You don’t parent and lead these kids the same.
20. For a pre-schooler your job is to embrace.
21. For elementary kids, engage them.
22. Elementary kids will grade your church by if they had fun.
23. For middle schoolers, affirm their personal journey.
24. In middle school, everything is moving from concrete to abstract. They are building their faith as their own.
25. In high school, your job is to mobilize.
26. You have to develop two skills at once – when to let go and when to hold on to set them up for what’s next.
27. Let high schoolers experience failure while they are with you.
28. If you don’t give high schoolers something significant to do, they won’t believe they are significant.
29. We miss phases because we don’t remember what we don’t remember.
30. Every kid is made in the image of God.
31. Every kid has a divine capacity to reason, improve, and lead, to care, relate, and trust to believe, to imagine, and even to love.
32. “When you welcome on such child in my name you welcome me.” – Jesus
33. No one should feel more welcome in our church than a crying baby, bored elementary schooler, disobedient middle schooler, and defiant teenager.
34. Anyone who works in IT is made in the image of God. I’m not even sure they were affected by the fall.
35. Treat every kid who breathes like they are made in the image of God. Whether they believe what you believe, they are made in the image of God.
36. Don’t expect kids to follow Jesus until you treat them like they’re made in the image of God.
37. We don’t anticipate what we don’t anticipate? We don’t think ahead.
38. A strategy is a plan of action with an end in mind.
39. We have a real enemy and he has a real strategy. He is thinking ahead.
40. He is trying to steal their potential, kill their identity, and destroy the image of God.
41. 4 out of 10 kids will live without their fathers. But we step in as a church because that doesn’t have to define them.
42. 80% of 10-year-old girls worry about not being thin enough.
43. 2 out of 10 girls will be sexually abused.
44. 1 in 10 girls will start cutting by age 12.  1 out of 10 will be sexually active.
45. 5 in 10 girls will be sexually active by 18.
46. Suicides peak in 10^th grade.
47. Recruit your best leaders to champion the next generation. Put your best leaders on your best opportunities. They should be the smartest people. They should be some of the best paid.
48. Lead smarter through transitions.
49. Re-engage every parent at every phase.
50. When you act like you can do something you can’t, you will probably do more than you would have.
51. Teach like child development matters.
52. Teach children the Bible better.
53. I don’t think most churches have a Gospel. Most churches have an audience problem.  They don’t know who their audience is.
54. Fight your battles together.
55. Don’t fight each other. Fight for each other.
56. You’re doing the work of the Gospel when you’re meeting the physical needs of kids.

More leadership insights to come throughout the day.  And do not forget to join our team at INJOY Stewardship Solutions on October 13th for a session entitled How One Capital Campaign Raised Over $10 Billion.  It will be a fun hour of equipping and training.  Click HERE or on the image below to register today.