Bishop Walter Scott Thomas, Brian Dodd, and Odell Dickerson
For the next several days, I will be attending the Renew Leadership Conference hosted by Union Baptist Church and Bishop Sir Walter Mack in Winston-Salem, NC. I have been dispatched by INJOY Stewardship Solutions to add value to those in attendance and capture the best leadership insights I gleaned from an all-star lineup of speakers.
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The evening session was Transitioning Ministry for The Future Church by the incomparable Bishop Walter Scott Thomas. Bishop Thomas is a great friend and leads New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, MD. The following are 25 quotes from his informative session:
- Church leaders can suffer from depression. You may not need a pill but you need a pronouncement and a revelation.
- If we want to change the world we have to ask questions.
- In order to do God’s work we must be a questioning people. How will you know God’s will if you don’t ask him.
- We need to move from listening to asking.
- So many people are concluding the church is dead. The church ain’t dead. It’s not dead at all. It’s being pruned.
- Where in Scripture would we even find validation where God would let the church die?
- How and in what way does a dying church give God glory?
- God can do more with what He prunes than starting from scratch.
- We are renewing a tree God prunes.
- Do you really believe everyone in your church has been bearing fruit?
- It’s being pruned because we’re not making disciples. Disciples do 2 things – Shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also gives himself to the world. That’s the problem. We are sitting but not giving.
- God can’t change His church until He changes the way we think.
- Rarely does great growth take place without someone putting their hands in the dirt.
- We have moved from cars to cell phones, from vehicles to viewing.
- We’ve moved from the community church. When I was young everybody in our church lived in our neighborhood. People actually walked to church.
- When we started driving, we started going to church by ourselves.
- Computers opened up brand new doors.
- I’m moving from going physically, being in the mix, to just watching. I’m moving from a clarion call to action to seeing if I was moved by anything… I’m downstairs putting jelly on my muffin while the offering is being taken up.
- The whole sense of a compelling Gospel has been replaced by the cell phone and what I deem important content when I want it.
- Viewing people will never give God glory.
- Truth: We have moved from theological acceptance to theological questioning.
- We have not taken time to figure out is what we are preaching culture or Christ.
- We have moved from church is necessary to church is nominal.
- We grew thinking we needed God to find freedom in society. People now think when they have arrived socially they think they are entitled spiritually.
- The Great Commission for the 21stCentury is the share the Gospel with the person right beside us and pouring our life into them so they give God glory.
Day 2 was incredible! Check back tomorrow for more content from this amazing conference.
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