Today I had the privilege of speaking at and attending the 521 Conference. You can read the notes of my session here. Jesus told the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. In this story, the master gives three servants 5 talents, 2 talents and 1 talent, respectively. He never tells them how to leverage what he gave them but still expected them to do something with it. We learn that what we have been given by God is less important to Him than what we do with it.
The event’s plenary speaker was Shawn Lovejoy. Shawn has been a real estate developer, a church planter, a megachurch pastor, and now CEO of the fast growing coaching organization Courage To Lead. His heart beats quick for Leadership, Personal Growth, and Organizational Health, and helping people accomplish their momentum.
Shawn conducted two phenomenal plenary sessions. The first was on Redefining Success followed by coaching on Building Culture. The following are my notes. I wanted to share them with you.
Session 1 – Redefining Success
- “The most common mistake pastors make is isolation.”
- “Leaders buy into this victim mentality and that it’s harder for us.”
- “This church is giving you permission to go reach people.”
- “I am not responsible for what I don’t have and what I can’t do. I am 100% responsible for what I do have and what I can do.”
- “Most of us are waiting for Jesus to grow our church. Do you think Jesus is holding back lost people from being saved or do you think He is waiting to trust us with lost people?”
- “Of all the people I’ve I ever led, the most difficult person is myself.”
- “Our greatest assets His lordship, become our greatest liabilities.”
- “I served too much in the flesh and not enough in the Spriit.”
- “I can build a crowd without Jesus. I can preach without Jesus. But you cannot do anything of eternal significance without Jesus.”
- “We can rationalize our bad behavior in the name of the Great Commission.”
- “We can’t abandon the Great Commandment in the name of the Great Commission. The Great Commandment proceeds the Great Commission.”
- “Me and my wife don’t argue. We call it ‘intense fellowship.’”
- “After 25 years, we not only love each other.We like each other.”
- “You can afford and spend money on what’s of value you to you.”
- “I will never walk into the house at the end of the day on my cell phone… When I’m home, I’m home.”
- “My best gift to you (my church) is a white-hot relationship with God and a great marriage that everything flows out of.”
- “The 35 minutes a week I speak for God is 35 of the most important minutes in this community.”
- “I would rather disappoint you (my church) than disappoint my family and God.”
- “We need someone close to us who’s not impressed with us to speak into our lives.”
- “We have got to radically redefine how we measure success.”
- “Everyone is this room is an interim pastor. You’re going to leave your church.”
- “I want everyone in this room to leave when no one wants you to leave.”
- “We stayed true to the vision. My wife liked me. The kids loved the church. That’s success.”
- “Jesus was not always unequivocally accessible to everyone.”
- “The number one lesson I’ve learned is to be still.”
- “The word church planters hate the most is ‘patience.’”
- “How do you change a church culture – patience.”
- “My best gift to the church is a spiritually healthy me.”
- “My pastors running 100-1000 are overexposed.”
- “Experience alone won’t make you better. Iron sharpens iron. Friction makes you better.”
- “I got better over time because I was diligent and worked hard.”
- “The church is dying. It’s not on Him, it’s on us. There’s too much flesh going on.”
- “I don’t let my schedule plan me. I plan my schedule.”
- “Stay in rhythm. I don’t believe in balance.”
- “You want intensity followed by rest.”
- “Most of us don’t trust the Lord enough to rest on the Sabbath.”
- “We need to work hard and then play hard.”
- “My vacation went first on my calendar 20 years ago. I built my preaching calendar around that.”
- “The fish aren’t always schooling.”
- “You’re literally setting your church up for failure it it’s built around you. Build it around mission, not you.”
- “Schedule yourself time away.”
- “You have a previous commitment if it gets on your calendar.”
- “Know yourself. I really I had some blind spots in your leadership.”
- “Once you see your blind spots, it’s sin.”
- “Discipleship is all about someone helping me eliminate blind spots and me helping eliminate theirs.”
- “I only listen to people to who love God, love this vision, and loves me.”
- “75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competences.”
- “Most pastors are terminated because they have a huge blind spot and given no one permission to eliminate it.”
- “A healthy self-aware leader knows they need to change before everyone else knows it.”
- “I’m a big fan of licensed, professional, healthy Christian counseling.”
- “Don’t be a victim. Get help.”
Session 2 – Building Culture
- “We have taken what Jesus meant to be simple and made it difficult.”
- “Because it was simple it was sustainable.”
- “You can’t presume on growth, but we can get prepared to grow.”
- “God won’t send 3,000 people here until we’re prepared to steward 3,000 people.”
- “The #1 competitive advantage in any organization is culture.”
- “If our culture is not right nothing is right.”
- “If you take one sinner and add them to another sinner you have synergy.”
- “The two things you will lose sleep over in ministry is money and people.”
- “People aren’t turned off by the Gospel. They’re just turned off by everything they have to experience to get to it.”
- “I look into churches and I see dead people.The Gospel is something we live.”
- “Don’t think of discipleship as meat. Think of it as fruit.”
- “Your number one job as a leader is Culture Architect. Culture happens by design or default.”
- “Culture is the combination of what we believe and how we behave.”
- “There is usually a gap between what we say we value and what we really value.”
- “What we really value is keeping our job. What we really value is keeping the peace.”
- “A healthy culture closes the gap between we say and how we behave.”
- “A healthy culture balances grace and truth.”
- “A lot of marriages 25 years or more have artificial harmony.”
- “Leaders are the biggest liars.”
- “I’ve made a commitment to never say something to my spouse about you that I wouldn’t say directly to you.”
- “It takes courage to lead.”
- “You can be right and not be righteous about it.”
- “The one thread all Mega pastors who fell had in common was they led fear-based ministries with their staffs.”
- “We must be the culture we want to build.”
- “We must get clearer about our values. What’s important to you?”
- “Hold ourselves accountable to what we say we believe.”
- “When Jesus got ready to change the world, He picked a team. Do you think we need one?”
- “There is a difference between a staff and team.A staff does not make a team but it can become one.”
- “A healthy team – the goal is more important than the role.”
- “The gift serves the church. The church doesn’t serve the gift.”
- “Mutual devotion: We have to be committed to the same things.”
- “Proximity: We have to spend time together.”
- “My first small group would be people who are potential staff people.”
- “Be a leader recruiter.”
- “Consistency: We have to be together regularly.”
- “Where there is no vision, your leaders will make up one. Be close to your leaders.”
- “It’s easier to say “No” early and “Yes” later than saying “Yes” early and “No” later because then you have to kill something.”
- “Every great decision in a church should be made in a meeting with leaders you trust led by the Holy Spirit, with one person making the final decision.”
- “5 Purposes Of Meetings – Community, Communication, Collaboration, Coaching, Cheering On One Another
- “Information builds trust.”
- “The more information a leader has the less likely they are to micro-manage.”
- “Leaders hate to be surprised.”
- “Leaders won’t buy-in unless they weigh-in.”
- “Leaders don’t have to make the decision. They just want to be heard.”
- “When do you correct a decision with a leader – today. Always start with what’s right.”
- “When I was a senior pastor I wanted to quit every Monday because of an email or text.”
- “To build a healthy team we must build healthy structures and systems.”
- “Every church is currently structured for the results it’s getting now.”
- “A system is a bridge that moves things and people from where they are, to where they need to be, and keep them there.”
- “As a leader, your calendar is your most important system.”
- “Ingredients For A Healthy System – Clarity, Accessibility, Accountability,
- “Most tensions in our church are systems tensions in disguise.”
- “If it’s in your head it’s not a system… Get crystal clear and put it on paper.”
- “The great churches I know do not shrink away from tough conversations.”
- “Health does not happen on its own.”
- “Their response is not your responsibility.Start living for an audience of One.”
What is one thing from Shawn’s comments you learned which will make you a better leader?
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