I attended the Whiteboard Sessions 2010 conference in VA Beach on Friday, May 21. These are my notes from the various speakers.
Jonathan is the senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA and son of Jerry Falwell.
Big idea: What we do matters.
1 Peter 5 – God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Stand firm.
To accomplish all that God has for us we need to understand the word stand. We must never distracted despite all of the many attempts by outside forces to distract and get us off mission.
There are many things even inside the church which might be good things, but distract us and get us off mission of who God wants us to be and to do what God wants us to do.
PRIDE
Be who you are. 1 Sam 17 (David vs. Goliath) Too many of us falter because we are too busy trying to wear someone else’s armor – trying to be someone we are not. Trying to be someone else is a distraction and ultimately we will fail at it.
Know who you are, accept who you are and be who you are. To not do so leads to discouragement and depression. There are many, many lists of churches and people to watch. Christ didn’t call us to make lists. He called us to reach the lost. God didn’t call us to be any of the people on those lists. He called you to be you and you only. Spending you time trying to be someone on those lists will distract you and cause you not to focus on being who God made you to be.
God does not want an army of ministry clones.
GRACE
Be what you are. You are a minister of the grace of God – and you cannot fail. God will never call you do to anything for which he does not equip you to be successful. If you just be who & what you are you will not fail. Image: lottery billboard
It is not like winning the lottery where you odds are against you.
Pride and grace can never coexist in ministry. It has to be one or the other.
Personal ministry is the focus and it will be tough – scripture tells us this. But God will perfect us and strengthen us for the work. He will place us on a firm foundation which is his grace. Let us not forget that or complicate that.
Stand in who God wants us to be and do not move from it.