Probably the most dead-on needed to hear message of the whole conference.  Francis Chan has a way of being very transparent, funny, and serious all at the same time.  "I loved these people... then I got into ministry" was one of his most real statements as he spoke about his passionate love for his friends and his desire for them to know Christ before he became a minister.  

Many of the things we often take for granted in our ministry Francis Chan dusted off and helped reveal their meaningfulness.  Why do we pray during services?  Is there something really happening when we do it?  Chan reminds us that in prayer and preaching there really is something spiritual and supernatural happening, and that, "the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead" is in us!  God knew who we were going to be before he formed us and he has called us to be His and to do His will.  And He has given us that Spirit to accomplish these things.  

One of the most important things that I took away from Chan's message was that it is OK to push the church beyond 'lukewarmness' to a true discipleship.  Chan spoke of this in his own ministry when he told the story of his decision to let his church meet outside instead of spending gobs of money on a new building.  They may get rained upon, they may get a little chilly, but they will be using the money to bring people out of poverty and providing clean water in communities across the globe - a much better option than being spit out of God's mouth.   Are we calling our churches to the same commitment that Jesus is calling us to? 

Favorite Quotes:

"What part of the body are you?  Are you the appendix?  I mean you don't really do much and you could explode and kill us."  

"I want to bring these people before God and say, 'Lord you saw that the way these guys lived on earth, they were crazy about you'." 

Posted In: catalyst church

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