Catalyst ’16 Labs – 65 Leadership Quotes From Derwin Gray On Creating A Multi-Ethnic Church

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 Uncommon Fellowship.

The Wednesday sessions consisted of Catalyst Labs.  The afternoon’s next speaker was Derwin L. Gray is the founding and Lead Pastor of Transformation Church, a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, mission-shaped community with two campuses in South Carolina. I truly love this dear friend.  For three out of the last five years, TC has been recognized as one of the top 100 fastest-growing churches in America by Outreach magazine.  He is also the author of The High Definition Leader: Building Multiethnic Churches In A Multiethnic World.

Also, as a special gift to everyone reading these posts, INJOY Stewardship would like to invest in your leadership by inviting you to a FREE Thursday October 13th online event entitled “How To Overcome The Challenges Of Leading A Growing Church.”  Click HERE or on the image below to sign up.

The following are 65 Leadership Quotes and Lessons from Derwin Gray on his insightful session:

1. The less you know the more you think you know. The more you know the more you know the more you need to know.
2. Jesus grew up in Nazareth. Nazareth was the hood.
3. We read the Bible from our situation rather than the situation it was written in.
4. The Gospel creates a type of people where death doesn’t even interrupt their life.
5. A high definition leader sees colors differently. God doesn’t want you to be color blind but color blessed.
6. Make disciples of all nations but also across the street.
7. Our first Sunday we launched 701 showed up.
8. When people would tell us multi-ethnic churches won’t grow, does God still part Red Seas.
9. What we did may not work where you are. The right question is “Who are you?”

High Definition Leaders do the following:

1. Develop a Gospel Ethos – When racial shootings happen churches can’t say much because the church is the most segregated place in America.
2. Historical narratives and historical stories shape church cultures.
3. It’s imperative the story of Christ shapes our culture.
4. Right now reconciliation in my city is hard.
5. If you are a follower of Jesus, your ethnicity no longer applies. My identity is I am a follower of Jesus who happens to be black.
6. Church is the name of the people born of His blood.
7. I believe we don’t think the cross is powerful enough. The cross not only gets you to Heaven but can also make your enemies brothers.
8. I have been created for Your glory and Your purpose by Your grace.
9. Make Jesus the hero of everything.
10. When people leave your sermon make them say, “What a wonderful Jesus!”
11. Develop Diverse Leadership Teams
12. Every team I ever played on was diverse. And in that diversity was strength.
13. You can’t lead a multiethnic church if you don’t live a multiethnic life.
14. We fasted and prayed and cried out for our leadership team.
15. If you want to have a multiethnic church you must have a multiethnic leadership team.
16. Christians was first used to describe this new community of Jews and Gentiles.
17. The word “Christian” originated from the multiethnic church in Antioch.
18. If it wasn’t for the church of Antioch we wouldn’t even be here.
19. Develop Cross-Cultural Competency
20. As a black man in America, I’ve always had to be a good listener to survive. I had to be observant.
21. Be a good learner. Something about leaders is not telling everyone what to do. That’s a dictator.
22. You’re going to get into some awkward conversations.
23. The most racism I ever got as a kid was from other colored kids.
24. If you’re not having biblical conversations you’re not having a multi-cultural church.
25. The Gospel allows you to give each other grace.
26. Take the posture of a student. You are a learner.
27. As leaders we want things to happen fast. This doesn’t happen fast.
28. Develop Diverse Musical Genres for corporate gatherings. This will be very difficult for the church but not the world.
29. Not everyone is going to be satisfied. But if Justin Timberlake’s concerts can be diverse, why can’t ours be diverse.
30. At Transformation Church, we have a No Diva policy. If you’re not humble you have got to go.
31. If you put up people with no character to grow your church, God calls that spiritual prostitution and God’s going to hold you accountable.
32. Because we care about attendance we don’t attend to their souls.
33. Develop A Leadership Pipeline
34. Acquiring a skill set is so much harder than allowing God to transform your character. Be careful of the leader who has a skill but damages people.
35. Don’t divorce skills from character. You will have a lot of highly competent people who don’t reflect the Fruit of the Spirit.
36. What does it accomplish if we’re a bunch of jerks but pull off a great Sunday?
37. This year we’ve had over 1000 people come to faith. We’ve baptized over 500 people…but Transformation Church is not a weekend event.
38. Don’t divorce skills and a transformed will.
39. If you listen to a leadership talk from a Christian and Jesus’s name is not mentioned, that’s a problem.
40. Develop A Thick Skis, a Soft Heart, and a Sharp Mind
41. A homogenous unit keeps you ignorant.
42. God is teaching me it is His presence that brings me joy, not outcomes. If you are not satisfied with 300 in your church, you won’t be satisfied with 3000.
43. Develop A Powerful Prayer Life
44. I had to stop going to conferences, listening to certain people, and listening to the Holy Spirit.

Q&A

1. One of the ways you can tell if your church can become multiethnic is to look at the demographics of the local school.
2. Diversity is not just in urban areas.
3. Missions isn’t something we do. It is an identity and who we are.
4. When you engage schools don’t slap your logo on everything. Have no strings attached.
5. From the pulpit I have to teach the text…You have to replicate it in your people.
6. The first thing is respect that I’m made in the image of God.
7. I’m Pro-Jesus which makes me Pro-Humanity.
8. Nothing happens in a vacuum. There is a context to everything. And you have to put everything in the context of Christ.
9. Being angry is too hard of a burden to carry.
10. History is His Story.
11. You have to start with your influencers and then it trickles down.
12. New York City, LA, and Miami is moving to a neighborhood towards you. The churches that understand this today are the churches who will be effective tomorrow.

Next up is Scott Sauls.  Be sure to check back for more leadership insights throughout the day.

On Thursday October 13th, INJOY Stewardship Solutions is hosting an online event entitled, “How To Overcome The Challenges Of Leading A Growing Church”.  You will able to learn church growth lessons from experience pastors like Shawn Lovejoy, Marty Schmidt, Josh Pennington, Mike Linch and Jeff Maness himself.  Click HERE or on the images provided to sign up.