The first main session at Innovation3 just wrapped up, so prepare yourself for my stream-of-consciousness, type-like-crazy notes from speakers Pete Briscoe, Tim Keller, Stacy Spencer, Craig Groeschel (via video), and Mark Driscoll. Most of these make sense to me, and maybe they’ll make sense for you. (By the way, you can watch the main session live here and you can follow Innovation3 updates on Twitter here.)
The notes:
Innovation3 Notes
Main Session #1
Pete Briscoe – Failure in Ministry
1 Thes. 2:1-6 — “… our visit to you was not a failure …”
failure – proved empty
Paul says his time with the Thessalonians wasn’t a failure because he …
didn’t use deceit or impure motives
didn’t try to trick or manipulate
didn’t try to please men
didn’t use flattery
didn’t put on a mask to hide greed
did dare to share the gospel in the face of opposition
Tim Keller on Failure
J.K. Rowling at Harvard commencement — “I became a success by first becoming a failure.”
– We say we’re saved by grace, but our hearts contradict our message. We base our salvation on the success of our ministry. “Don’t get into preaching the gospel to save your own soul.”
Genesis 32 — Jacob Wrestles with God
You’ve got to go after God for blessing
every person needs someone else to give them/affirm their value
You’ve got to let God name you
We are looking for blessing in the wrong places — “Oh pastor, you’ve changed my life.” — that never seems to last more than 5 minutes.
Gal. 2:14 – Peter’s asking like a racist; Paul says he has forgotten the gospel.
You learn to pray from bad times
Read the letters of John Newton
The only way to be spiritually successful is to fail.
Stacy Spencer
Memphis doesn’t need another church
Matt. 16 – Who do people say I am? Who do you say I am?
Zag – Your brand is what other people say you are.
“Give me Pookie and them.”
Is your vision aligned with your values?
“Do you have more in the showroom than you do in the stockroom?”
You should be able to say, “Our church is the only church that ______.”
“It’s not just about putting up buildings, it’s about building people up.”
“I don’t need to show people how smart I am, I need to show people how good God is.”
Craig Groeschel
Leaders who have “it” — who are willing to fail
Matt. 25 – Parable of the Talents – the servant with 1 talent was afraid to fail – the servants who were faithful doubled the talents they were given
Peter constantly failed in the Gospels. The grace he experienced in that failure allowed him to be the preacher on the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 people were saved.
“Failure is not an option. It’s an absolute necessity. You have to be willing to fail.”
Batterson — “The antidote for the fear of failure is not success, it’s small doses of failure.”
You try, you fail, you learn, you adjust.
What works is often born out of something that doesn’t work.
LC.tv’s first attempt at a video venue failed. It’s gone. It doesn’t exist today.
Create a culture that allows for failure. Failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen.
You can call every new venture an experiment. You can tell people, “We are going to fail, but we’re going to fail aggressively, not passively.” Some churches fail by doing nothing.
Don’t internalize failure — Just because I fail at something doesn’t mean I’m a failure.
Mark Driscoll
We were all made
Job 9:2 – How can a person be righteous before God?
Works righteousness – an effort to justify ourselves in the eyes of God
Does success or failure affect how close you feel to God?
Does success or failure cause you to feel more or less holy?
Does success or failure alter how you see God?
Martin Luther called all of this the Theology of Glory.
This mindset pervades ministry work. There’s a crisis of righteousness.
“I love numbers. I love to measure things. But righteousness is hard to measure. Money and attendance are easy to measure.”
The opposite is the Theology of the Cross (in Luther’s view) — that he who knew no sin became sin …
Not in my performance but in his perfection …
Ministry flows from righteousness, not for righteousness.
You use people when you need them (their money, support, etc.). If Christ all you need, you don’t need to use people. You can love them.
This leads to the ability to take risks.
Are you risk-averse or risk-addicted?
When it comes to whether or not to take risk, can you take yourself out of the equation? Can you say, “It’s not about me”?
Repentance (from using people and the church) is impossible for people with a Theology of Glory. They tend to fake it with blame shifting, worldly sorrow, or mere confession. Religious repentance seeks to use God for righteous (more people, more money), which he already gave in Jesus.
Theology of the Cross redefines repentance and renews the culture of your church — it allows for repentance and risk because people understand the source of their righteousness.
If your righteousness is in Christ, your righteousness will not be affected by failure.