Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

Had a blast hanging out with Brian Houston yesterday. Tough to put the day into words. I walked away with a few practical ideas in the area of staffing and finances that we'll try to adapt and implement at NCC. I won't share those, but I will share a few key thoughts.

My macro observation after being around Brian and some of his key staff is that healthy churches, like successful teams, have a core group of staff that stay together and grow together for a long time! They do life and do ministry for several decades. I was impressed with the core team from Hillsong. To that end, Brian said:

"Don't worry about the periphery. Focus on the core. Every church has a soul. And the soul of the church will determine its destiny."

"Having an agenda--wrong motivations--will keep you out of the core."

"There are just some things you won't be able to do in a few months or a few years. You need a long-term committed to pastoring."

Brian talked some about the pattern principle in II Timothy 1:13: "Hold on to the pattern of right teaching you learned from me."

Every church has a pattern--a pattern of negativity or positivity, a pattern of responsibility or inconsistency, a pattern of complacency or conviction. What pattern are you perpetuating?

A few more one-liners:

"Your accent won't make you a foreigner here. Your attitude will."

"Meditate. Think concepts through. The best messages come out of meditation."

"My biggest enemy is busyness. I'm trying to unbusy myself."

"Stay normal."