Advance the Church Fall 2010 Regional Session 3: Steven Furtick

Here are my notes on the third session of the Fall 2010 Advance the Church Regional Meeting at Vintage21 Church, Raleigh:

Session #3: Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC

“Training Men to Multiply”

Furtick was inspired by reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala soon after salvation

Didn’t know anything about church planting or even metropolitan life when he felt called to plant a church in a major metropolitan area

Story about watching walkthroughs of videogames on youtube and how it is totally lethargic just watching someone else do it—point that training is not for us to watch, listen and possibly critique but to be about following in faith.

Four points on developing leaders:

I.  Create a leadership culture that is INTENSE and INTENTIONAL: (Acts 3:1-10)

At Elevation, they don’t apologize for their overall call from the Scripture or their specific call as a church

Began with a couple men who desired to see God work but with no money and little plans

Church leadership style is based on individual gifting of leaders, not trying to emulate what others are doing

Some of Elevation’s core values:

“Ruth’s Criss not Golden Corral”—focus on doing few things very well rather than doing lots of things okay

“Dress for the wedding not the gas station”—prepared not for where you are but where you’re going, like stopping for gas on the way to a wedding; walking by faith, not sight

“We’re all about the numbers”—of lives, marriages, etc. changed

Furtick would rather be bold and fail than wait until his chance has passed

II. Embrace the paradox called “perhaps” (1 Samuel 14:6, NIV)

Completely convinced of God’s promise but aware of potential to fail or fall

“If the size of the vision for your life isn’t intimidating to you, it might be insulting to God.”—from Sun Stand Still

Be honest about your little bit of uncertainty of where God is leading, because you’re never 100% totally convinced

III. Think INSIDE the box

A word for those who are waiting for circumstances to change to move: “Stop waiting for what you want, and work what you’ve got.”

Having ideas does not make you a visionary

Don’t talk about what you can’t do but what you can.

Don’t “think outside the box” because the box you live in is your reality, but work with what you have.

It is limitation and frustration that leads to inspiration in ministry

IV. Get really good at the art of “Find and Replace”

Just as a word processor can find a word and replace it with anything, we must replace the lie in our heart with the truth.

Remember: At the end of it all, all you need is Jesus

Don’t focus on those who have disappointed you or abandoned you

Ephesians 3:20 benediction

Advance the Church Fall 2010 Regional Session 2: Tyler Jones

Here are my notes on the second session of the Fall 2010 Advance the Church Regional Meeting at Vintage21 Church, Raleigh:

Advance the Church Regional Meeting Fall ‘01

October 8, 2010

Session #2: Tyler Jones, Vintage21 Church, Raleigh, NC

“Becoming a Multiplying Church”

Mission, health, or growth: which is the most important? How do we keep all of them functioning at the same time?

These are not three different areas but parts of one thing: DISCIPLESHIP

Statistics to come on Advance the Church blog

The key problem is that we have failed in discipleship.

Vintage21 took “temperature” of the body to find if stats held true:

Elders very committed

Deacons mostly committed, but big drop-off after…

Members maybe about half faithful

Regular attenders far behind

I. The Core: What Discipleship is

1. Gospel transformation (Titus 3:4-7)

In discipleship, we are not trying to become something we are not; we are seeking to become what we already are by regeneration.

So discipleship is aligning with what has been done within and rejecting old tendencies toward the old nature.

2. Spirit empowered living

3. Bearing one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)

II. What Feeds the Core?

1. Life on life tension

2. Content and Training

1) How to study the Bible

2) Pray

3) Mission

4) What it means to be a disciple

III. How Are We Going to Shape a Culture of Discipleship?

1. We can only influence, not mandate change

2. The process will be organic and messy with little to no control

3. Our current program of depending on staff leadership will almost certainly fail

4. (skipped due to time and perceived confusion)

5. Everyone needs to be involved

6. Movements that have influenced culture have historically been led by the young

7. Requires collaboration of different strategies

8. Hinges on the Spirit

9. A journey & not a destination

10. Needs to work on multiple levels

11. IT WILL LOOK LIKE JESUS if done properly

Advance the Church Fall 2010 Regional Session 1: Chris Atwell

Here are my notes on the first session of the Fall 2010 Advance the Church Regional Meeting at Vintage21 Church, Raleigh:

Advance the Church Regional Meeting Fall ‘01

October 8, 2010

Session #1: Chris Atwell, Portico Church, Charlottesville, VA

“The Men Who Multiply”—The Traits of a Leader of a Multiplying Church

4 Qualities: Inspire, Involve, Instruct & Invest

We need to personally ask the question: “Am I the type of man who multiplies?”

I.            A man who Inspires because he is captivated by the gospel:

Are you absolutely enthralled by the love and grace of Christ?

-“When was the last time you preached the gospel to yourself and believed it?”

Inspiring men look at everyday circumstances and preach the gospel to themselves.

He recognizes his own faults and is amazed that God would choose him.

James 1:20 “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

—Atwell had to preach this to his congregation in the midst of a personal struggle with anger

What does produce righteousness? Romans 1:17 “The righteous shall live by faith.”

What is it that you do not believe about the gospel that you fall into sin like that and can’t see the way out?

We are trapped between workaholism and sloth:

What makes you precious?

The slothful says: “I am not precious, so it does not matter what I do.”

The workaholic says: “I work forever to make myself precious.”

II.        A man who is Involved with people:

Many men want to play the role of church planter rather than live the life of shepherding people.
We are not called to be promoters or program coordinators but shepherds.

Pastors and church planters should “smell like sheep.”

Acts 2:42—koinonia: fellowship, koinos: in common

1 John 1:3—koinonia with God

2 Cor. 13:14— koinonia is a gift from God

III.   A man who Instructs his people the gospel:

Romans 10:14-17

We need to be preachers, not just conversationalists

After 20 centuries of gospel preaching, why do we think we’ve “graduated” beyond that in the 21^st?

IV.      A man who Invests his life to equip others for the gospel:

We have to be trained to be elders; it is not natural

We will not be satisfied with things that grow our own fame; we will take obscurity, poverty, anonymity, normalcy, if it means that the cause of Christ is advanced and people are equipped to make great the name of Christ.

All the well-known dead people who have reached us are a small thing compared to the millions of unknown pastors who inspire each of us and others

A man who multiplies is going to be faithful to preach the gospel and invest in people even if he must do so in obscurity