REVERB

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia with my wife and 26 other staff people from Granger Community Church at the Catalyst REVERB leadership conference. I gleaned a ton of relevant and inciteful information. I was going to write a post about each session that impacted me but I've decided, instead, to just share some of the impactful statements that I noted.


Session 1 "The Most Powerful Person in the Room" Andy Stanley


If God has put you in a place of leadership, you yield power. Power yields influence. Follow 'me' isn't any better than follow 'we' if you don't understand your power from God. What happens when you realize you're the most powerful person in the room....it either makes or breaks a leader. What ever you do says volumes about you and your trust in God.


Your fear of power, or how you've seen power abused may make you the very person God wants to entrust with much power and influence.


Refuse to leverage your power for your own sake but leverage it for other peoples benefit. Leveraging power to only benefit ourselves is declaring that we are greater than our Creator and demonstrates our weakness and now our power. Break the power of self-centeredness of leveraging power to only benefit yourself


Session 2 "The Ministry of Management" Patrick Lencioni

3 signs of a miserable job

Annonymity - when we feel 'unknown' at our jobs is the first sign of job misery. Some of the reasons cited for not needing to invest in the people we work with are:

• we think we're too busy
• we've forgotten what it feels like to be in their stage of career
• we don't want to be disingenuous - I didn't talk to them before,why should I start now?

Irrevelance - Feeling irrevelant occurs when people feel like they don't make a difference in someones life is the second sign of job misery.

Immeasurement - Not having a sense of measuring how they are doing and not being able to fulfill this causes job misery. Measurement is not strictly monitary. People need verbal feedback on how they are doing in their jobs. It gives them an understanding as to whether they are succeeding in their work or not.



Session 3 "Un Christian" Chris Seay, David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons, Tri Robinson

Today's Christians are being critisized for the similar things the pharisees were saying in respect to their time in history.

'Christians are not righteous but self-righteous' is a growing perception

If you focus on morality, you won't get morality. You can't preach to the people 'go feed the hungry....etc. if without giving people a means to follow through

Session 4 Shane Claiborne


I cannot fully recover until I help the world that made me sick, recover.


Session 5 Francis Chan


Are we willing to help the needy at the risk of our own inconvenience? Is it not better to plant grass and have church on the lawn rather than build a massive sanctuary. Where did Jesus do the bulk of his preaching? Is it not better to do without so that those without can have a roof over their heads?


Session 6 Sunday Adelaja


I didn't take any notes during Sunday's presentation but you have to admire a guy from Nigeria who is called to ministry in the Ukraine and has grown an amazing church there.


Session 7 Rick Warren

If you want God's annointing on your life then you have to get with God's agenda and not your own. Ask God to bless what he wants you to do and not just to bless you.

God's agenda is the church.

God wants us to love the real church, not the ideal church. And then he wants us to serve in it. God is love. We were made to be loved by God. Our hearts are beating today because God loves us. We are Gods' family and God's family is the only thing that will last. Everything else will be eliminated.

Stop trying to create culture. Change culture.

Session 8 John Maxwell

Intentionally add value to people everyday.

The greatest way you can add value is to find your strength gift.

The greatest sin of a leader is putting themselves first.

Sew and don't worry about reaping, it will come automatically.

4 ways to add value to people:

1. You have to value people


2. Make yourself value-able


3. Know and relate to what other people value


4. Do the things that God values

Session 9 "Practical Atheist" Craig Groeschel


We need to be disturbed. God Disturb me. What aren't you doing that you could be doing? What does God want you to do that You walk away from? What sin are you not confessing?


Practical Atheist - someone who believes in God but lives life like he doesn't or doing ministry as if he doesn't


Isaiah 29:13-14 honoring God with your lips but your heart is far from him


Is the way your doing the work of God destroying the work of God within yourself? Have I become a full time minister and a part time believer.


Are my efforts better than God's power? If I just do a good enough job, God will bless it.

When I blame myself for the decline in something, someday I might take credit for the increase.


We believe that our private life doesn't affect our public ministry. God, disturb me.

We believe that we must please people more than we please God. Why do we get nervous, because we afraid what people around us will think, not what God will think.

Session 10 "Making Money Make Kingdom Waves" Dave Ramsey


We are called to manage dangerous things for the kingdom of God.


Stewardship is the management of God's stuff, all of it - time, money....etc.


God will 'reverb' your future when you let him manage it


"Too much month left at the end of the money"


Prosperity is having the money to do God's will in your life.


Session 11 Erwin McManus


I saw Erwin speak at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit 2 years ago and was really looking forward to hearing him speak again. However, I didn't take one note. The one thing that I did take away from his session was his honesty. He made a comment about worship that was bold but real. The words of one worship song say "You're all I need" but Erwin said for him thats not always the case and he often has trouble singing those words. He said more often than not he finds himself needing other things. Aren't we all like that.


Session 12 "Liberating Your Organization" Andy Stanley


Some systems impede ministry. Some systems obstruct leaders. Systems create behaviors


The systems you inherit, adopt, or create impact what your staff and volunteers do.


A family has systems. Andy gave an example of his childrens chore to take out the trash. He had to ask at least 3 times per week for them to take it out. He had created a system that required 3 'asks' which frustrated him. One day he came home and he decided he was taking the trash down to the road. He took one trash can down and was coming back for the second when he son came out and asked what he was doing. Andy said he was taking the trash out. His son replied, "thanks." Andy said, no problem. You don't have to take it out anymore. He son said "really!" Andy said, thats right, but I get your allowance.


Components of a system:

• Expectations/Rules


• Rewards/or lack of


• Consequences/or lack of


• Communication


• Behavior

Whats rewarded is repeated

When something goes wrong the first impulse is to blame the person when in actual reality its a system failure.

An system exercise you can do:

1. list 3 behaviors that you wish characterized your group
2. list one thing that was being done systematically to encourage those behaviors
3. list the things that are being done to encourage wrong behavior