49 Leadership Lessons From Carey Nieuwhof, Jeff Henderson and Perry Noble Pastors Lunch – Orange Conference ’13

April 26, 2013 by Brian Dodd

Brian with Perry Noble and Carey Nieuwhof

There are perks to leadership and there is a price to leadership.  This afternoon I got to experience one of the perks!  In an effort to help churches succeed, The Rocket Company has dispatched me to the Orange Conference in Atlanta, Ga to gather leadership lessons and insights to pass on to you.
I  just attended a special lunch for pastors only that was highlighted by a Q & A between Carey Nieuwhof, Jeff Henderson, and Perry Noble.  In a word – UNBELIEVABLE!!!  This is one of the BEST events I have ever attended!!!
After reading these leadership quotes, please check out an amazing FREE offer from The Rocket Company on helping pastors preach better sermons which Jeff and Perry will both be a part of.  
Perry Noble

• In 2000, we were planting a church and I was broke.
• A dynamic Children’s Ministry is essential for a thriving church…We want them in environments where they can have fun and learn about Jesus on their level.
• If you’re doing church right, you offend someone every week.
• I don’t believe in fundraisers for youth and children’s group.  The pastor should be the chief fundraiser for them.  It is a sin to put them in front of Wal-Mart.  Our kids have gotten everything they have ever needed.
• Disney is spending money on them.  Hollywood is spending money on them.  But the church screams if they need $500 and then sends them to Wal-Mart.
• Staff that doesn’t have unity on the staff will never have unity in the church.  You will not have vision.  You will have division.
• Parent only care about three things when they bring their  kids to church.  Clean.  Safe.  Fun.
• I hear people say, “Fun ain’t the goal.”  Well, Heaven is going to suck for you.
• We never told our daughter never to do something because it would look bad on the church or daddy.
• I’m not obsessed with what people think because I want to be a great husband and father.
• Love always assumes the best.  I’ve got her (daughter’s) back far more than the opinion of others.
• My wife’s ministry in the church is to me.  She can do things for me no one else in the church can do for me.
• Opportunity does not equal obligation.
• Jesus did not play to the expectations of people.  He did what His Heavenly Father called Him to do.
• If you don’t control your schedule, you’re not leading yourself or your family.
• Deep in most church settings means confusing.  A non-Christian has never asked me about going deep.
• Time, not content, produces spiritual growth.
• Every spiritual growth metaphor in the Bible is agricultural, not technological.  Agriculture takes time.
• In most discipleship classes in churches, the burden is not easy and the yoke is not light.
• We’re a church where change takes place.
• The only organization that resisted change the most is the church.  It’s also important that the population in America is increasing while church attendance is decreasing.
• We’re willing to answer the questions people are asking.  Nobody coming to your church Sunday cares about Calvinism.
• Nobody wants to hear you speak for 45 minutes.
• When we meet them where they are, answer their questions, they are more open to what the Bible says.
• We’re going to go after people I have a heart for.
• Too many churches are over-programmed.
• When you have to manufacture energy for something, it’s time to kill it.
• When God’s done with you in ministry, he’ll kill you.

Jeff Henderson

• The male population serving in family ministry continues to decline.
• There are boys in our church and community who have no idea what a positive male Christian role model looks like.
• I know what my role is – senior pastor, fundraiser, hire the right people and get out of the way.
• Kids are an easier sale than the adults…Even the worst parents in the world will take their kids to church if they want to go to church.
• For the family ministry I don’t have a customer (child) in, I pay them especial attention.
• Every year I have five goals I want to accomplish in five areas of my life.
• (To have balance) You have to say, “No”.
• My most important ministry is with my family, not the church.
• Our spiritual growth strategy is for you to do what we’re doing.
• If you’re not giving financially, there is something wrong with your heart.
• I’m a starter.  That’s what I do.
• If you want to feel like a celebrity, go to NewSpring and turn on your flashers as a first-time guest.
• The sermon starts in the parking lot.
• The key to the church growing is the enthusiasm of the person in the parking lot.
• When my family ministry says we have enough men, only then will I start a men’s ministry.  I want them serving.
• Job security is tied to killing ministry.  When someone says, “Something isn’t working.  I want to kill it.”  That’s good leadership.  They are more interested in the vision than the ministry.  That’s the person I want to keep.

Carey Nieuwhof

• There is power of another voice in a child’s life.
• Family ministry is a value, not a program.
• One of the effectiveness of an Orange Church is that the senior pastor owns the vision for family ministry.
• My wife and family would do what they would normally do because their Christians, not because I’m the pastor.
• Without a filter, everything sounds compelling.