Exponential: Rick Warren – (Final) Plenary Session 5b, “The Challenge”

Rick Warren is…Rick Warren.

The purpose of a wife is not to make you happy, but to make you holy.

“My heroes are bi-vociational pastors…I don’t really hangout with megachurch pastors – I don’t really like megachurch pastors.”

Never compare yourself to someone else.

1. You’ll always find someone else doing a better job than you, and then you get discouraged.
2. You’ll always find someone that you’re doing a better job then, and then you’ll get prideful.

God wants you to be you.

SUGGESTIONS ON BUILDING A REPRODUCING CHURCH PLANT

1. Never stop growing personally.
   • Growing churches require growing pastors.
   • You can never bring a church where you’ve not been.
   • You can delegate a lot of things, but you can’t delegate faith in God.
   • The size of your vision will determine the size of your church.
   • Most of us have polaroid vision – the longer we look at it the clearer it gets.
     • God’s not going to tell you everything that’s going to happen tomorrow – you take it one step at a time.
   • How do you grow your church?  See consistent growth?  How does a church see consistent growth for 28 years?
     • You must develop disciples.
   • You can’t do it quick, not if it’s going to be solid.
     • Do you want your church to be a mushroom cloud or an oak tree?
     • We don’t want a crowd, we want an army.
2. You have to pay attention to your family.
   • You have to love your wife and your kids.
   • You have to take a day off.
     • Keeping the Sabbath was one of the 10 Commandments – it’s on the same level as not murdering and not committing adultery.
     • Don’t call it a ‘Day Off’ because you’ll violate it.  Call it a Sabbath.
     • That means you don’t read your e-mail.  You don’t answer your phone.
   • You have to build your family before you build your church.
     • In between services on a Sunday, I’m in the back playing ‘Tubby, Tubby’ with my grand kids.
     • “If you haven’t noticed there are some people online that don’t like me.  But I have good news – this week I’m no longer the ‘Anti-Christ’, I’m just a false prophet.  Oprah’s now the Anti-Christ!”
   • Are you totally surrendered to the will and purpose of Jesus Christ?
     • If you do this, you will be criticized.
     • Jesus was criticized by the religious leaders of his day.
3. You must develop a kingdom mindset.
   • You have to see that God’s agenda for the world is bigger than just your church, or your network, or your denomination.
   • “I’ve always loved my church.  But the more I mature, the more I love other’s churches.”
   • The competition is not other churches, the competition is the devil.
   • What is God’s agenda?
     • The Kingdom of God
     • The Kingdom of God is wherever Jesus is King.
     • It’s God’s people doing God’s purposes.
     • Every time the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy or the end times, Jesus would change the subject and start talking about evangelism.
     • We should be working toward bringing the Kingdom of God on earth.
4. You need to focus on building people not the church.
   • If we focus on building people, God will build the church.
   • “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will build a great church and a great Christian and a great community.”
   • To build people you have to have a system.  It doesn’t just happen.
   • Acts 13:36, “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep…”
     • God’s goal is that you serve His purposes in your generation – no one else can.

When it comes to reproducing leaders and churches, it’s time to stop debating and start doing.

For the last few years, the Church has had it’s hands and feet amputated – we’re just a big mouth.