I had a really good time at the glocal.net turbo intensive. I hope to post more on this next week. But here are some initial thoughts:

• Glad to see so many Austin planters. Love that. God is doing something in Austin. We need more.
• The vision I’ve had for the church has been affirmed. It can be done. We can be a church that really does make an impact in the glocal community and not just focus on how many people attended our Sunday service.
• I don’t want to overstate this…But I felt like this vision is very “Acts 2.” Something worth living and dying for.
• I think we need to re-define leadership. It’s not how many “come” to your church but it’s really how many “go” from your church into the world to make a Kingdom impact. As Northwood says “Kingdom In, Kingdom Out.”
• The Kingdom creates chaos. We have to trust God in the midst of Chaos. It’s uncomfortable, hectic etc.
• I need to focus on the spiritual and practical and not so much on the church organization. Pastors can’t sit in an office all the time. We need to be in the community, networking, serving, mentoring, learning and loving our city and world.
• I can’t say this enough: Just because you have a growing church, people coming on Sunday, people attending small groups etc. Does not mean you have a missional church that is making a difference. We MUST redefine success. A growing church can be a good thing-as long as the church is sending people back into the community to love and serve.
• The Church is the mission.

I know for many this type of thinking is a huge paradigm shift. We lose our comfort zones. I think pastors in the West have to understand that God is moving in huge ways in the Global South and we need to learn from this movement. It’s OK not to be the “top dogs” on the block. Maybe soon pastors from the Global South will come to America to do some “pastors training.”

Good times.

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