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on October 16, 2019 in Church Leadership

For the next three days I have been dispatched by INJOY Stewardship Solutions to attend the SPARK Conference.  SPARK Conference is a gathering for local church leaders passionate about making disciples who make disciples.  This event is structured the conference to help teams pray, process and plan together toward the launch of a disciple-making movement in their community.

At INJOY Stewardship, we are #FORPastors!  Therefore, as a special gift to you and in honor of Pastor Appreciation Month, INJOY Stewardship is offering you a FREE DONE-FOR-YOU PASTOR APPRECIATION script which your staff or key lay leaders could read during the church service in honor of your pastor.  Here’s what I guarantee, your pastor will get a well-deserved standing ovation after reading this.  Whatever you do, click HERE or on the image provided and get your service.  Your pastor needs this more than you know.

The first breakout speaker was Dhati Lewis.  Dhati is the Lead Pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, Georgia and the Vice President of Send Network with the North American Mission Board.  He is most passionate about making disciples, equipping urban leaders, and loving his family.

The following are 34 Leadership Quotes And Lessons from his session on the art of hospitality in disciple-making:

    1. When we started the church was about disciple-making.
    2. Disciple-making is not a ministry of the church. It is the ministry of the church.
    3. Our goal is to disciple all 340 covenant members.
    4. We don’t do disciple-making perfectly but we take it seriously.
    5. The church is not like family, it is family.
    6. We are a family that is making disciples holistically.
    7. Our goal is to care for, equip, and mobilize every covenant member.
    8. Vision is born in the soul of a man or a woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. – Andy Stanley
    9. A pastor friend of man prayed, “God give me all the people no one else wants.” There’s a reason no one wants them.  We love the converted version of them.
    10. The answer to gentrification is not removal of the poor but the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
    11. How do we faithfully contextualize the Gospel?
    12. We are one bad event from Ferguson happening in our neighborhood.
    13. There is now more people living in poverty in the suburbs than in the city.
    14. We have to ask the question, “How do we reach our neighbor when our neighbor doesn’t look like us?”
    15. When I think of urban I think of density and diversity and the reality of these worlds colliding.
    16. How do we contextualize the Gospel to prepare us to reach people no one wants?
    17. Be Contextual: The gospel must be contextualized. There is no such thing as an uncontextualized Gospel.  I’m speaking to you in English.
    18. We don’t put our confidence in our ability to contextualize the Gospel. Even if you perfectly contextualize the Gospel, only some will be saved.
    19. We contextualize the Gospel with a sense of urgency.
    20. The goal of contextualization is reconciliation. We are God’s ambassadors and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
    21. Hospitality is at the very core of the Gospel. Hospitality is the love for strangers and believers alike.
    22. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. – Henri J.M. Nouwen
    23. “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” – Romans 15:7
    24. To restore our cities we must have hospitality.

    10 Ways To Practice Hospitality

    1. We have to be authentic. Authenticity is the apologetic of our day.  People want to know are you real.  You teach what you know but you reproduce who you are.  The Gospel changes people and God uses people to change the world.  A healthy of person is someone growing in the Gospel, while in a family, and on mission.  Am I the type of person I want to see reproduced in our church?  You see transformation in your church by you becoming the real thing.  Discipline is an admission of weakness.  The best way to disciple your kids or someone, you change.
    2. We have to be vulnerable. Transparency is not enough.  When you are vulnerable you are saying the Gospel is enough.  The best you’re going to get is a dim reflection of Christ.  Embrace it.  Embrace being human.
    3. Be Communal. Make the Gospel visible and tangible.  We want 50% of our people to be able to walk to our church.
    4. Be Relational. Invite people into relationship, not time and space.  Invite them to your dinner table before you invite them to your Bible study.
    5. Be Present. Attempt to shrink your world.  90% of ministry is just showing up.  We are addicted to our comfort.  We think God’s will is the path of least resistance.
    6. Be Intentional by establishing short-term and long-term clear wins.
    7. Be integrated. Think intersection, not addition.
    8. Be Genuine. Treat people like people, not a project.
    9. Be Explicit – explicitly Christian but intentionally relational. I don’t hide that I’m a Christian.
    10. Be Strategic – Think Win-Win. Find common ground.  Everyone cares about the school.  All the people no one else wants, we’re able to engage.

What an incredible to start the event!  Dhati is simply an amazing leader!  Check back tomorrow beginning mid-morning for more speakers and leadership lessons.

Once again, if you have not downloaded the DONE-FOR-YOU PASTOR APPRECIATION SCRIPT, simply click HERE or on the image provided.  #FORPastors

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