I was going to post a few bullets about each of the workshops we went to. We even had a staff luncheon yesterday to talk about it. Bottom line is, there simply is no way to communicate through bullet points the magnitude of what we as a staff experienced last Thursday at Newspring‘s Unleash conference! It was awesome!
Our biggest takeaway as a team, in my opinion, was the priority to protect our pastor. Chuck Bridges is an anointed man of God! I only met Chuck a little over a year ago but we had an instant connection. Our personalities are remarkably similar. I have always supported my pastor. Only now, I go a little deeper into what that means.
Supporting my pastor means:
- I will pray for him - really and earnestly lift him up
- I will protect his time - not allowing him to be bogged down with things that others can do keeping him in the Word and on his face
- I will go to war with him - personal attacks are as if they are directed at my own family
- I will insist he gets adequate time off - you can’t minister if your tanks empty
- I will encourage him - not an ego stroking but genuine encouragement
- I will yield to his authority - there is a time for debate but he is the one accountable to God for this church
I have read a lot of other blogs about the takeaways from the conference. There was tons of great stuff and the experience as a team was priceless. For us though, this is probably the most tangible takeaway that ensures greater longevity than anything else we learned. Support those pastors!
