What an incredible day this has been. Today kicked off an amazing line of speakers and encouraging words from the Creative Communication's Conference (or C3) in Grapevine, Texas. This is my second year attending and today's communicators rocked the Word. Here are a few of the most incredible comments of the day and a brief description of the context they were used in from Pastor Ed Young.
Ed Young kicked off the day with an amazing message series entitled, "Crazy Pills". He mentioned that in ministry we come into contact with a lot of crazy people. Yes, there is a good crazy, but he was talking about the crazy crazy people. He said in his first session when talking about Daniel that, "Living a life of integrity allows you to eventually have opportunities to speak into people's lives." How true! We all remember the story of Belshazzar and the writing on the wall in the book of Daniel. When it came time for an interpretation of the writing on the wall, Daniel was called upon - why? Because of his reputation as a man of God. Belshazzar had 12 hours to repent, his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had 12 months to repent. Neither one did. The truth is that we really don't often learn from history. Powerful words.
Ed also went on to talk about another crazy king, Darius the Mede. In Daniel chapter 6, Daniel is accused of not listening to Darius by some envious satraps. Scripture says that the accusers tell Darius that "they are saying that Daniel is not listening to the King". Darius' first mistake was not calling on Daniel to get the real scoop. Ed says that a good rule of thumb is to always ask who "they" are. Chances are that "they" is not a group, but is in fact only a small few. Another issue was that Darius was dealing with pride. The advisors encouraged Darius to make a decree that no one would pray to anyone for thirty days except to him. Cool? No. Guess who he didn't seek counsel from? Yep, Dan the man. Ed Young says, "A pride ride is a wicked ride." I was also encouraged when Ed said that we need to, "Feel free to release people over the issue of pride." You and I can't afford to allow prideful people to minister in our churches. We have to be willing to confront in love, that's what pastors do. He said that, "ministry is brut-iful". It's a job that occassionally requires us to get in people's grill in order to help them become who God wants them to be. He said that when, "Pride walks on the stage, God walks off." So we have to do our best to discern the hearts of our people and call them to live and walk hunbly before their God.
Another great thing Ed said when talking about tithing, money and faith in reference to the lead pastor, he said, "Pastors, if a businessman can explain the way that you financially run your church, then you probably aren't running it right." Think about that for a minute and let it sink in.
Session two with Ed this morning was amazing because he was completely transparent with us. He talked about tough moments in ministry for him. The Monday morning blues, dealing with a spirit of competitiveness. He used the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. He said that, "After the showdown, there is always a let down." So we have to rest, refuel, and rely on God. He said to make sure we H.A.L.T. (Never make decisions when we are Hungry, Angery, Lonely, or Tired). Good stuff!
The two sessions with Ed were amazing. We also sat under the ministry of Bill Cornelius, Jentzen Franklin and Ben Young today. I'll be sure to share some of those quotes with you. So stay tuned for some more good stuff. God is just rocking my world and I am literally having the time of my life. Check back!
