This is part of my notes from the Beautiful Day Conference.
Len Sweet – what else can be said of him? The man writes a book about every month or so and comes up with some ridiculous cool title – Soul Tsunami, Soul Salsa, The Gospel According to Starbucks, Carpe Manana. And he’s the American version of Sean Connery. His voice…rocks.
Micah 6:8 – DO Justice but LOVE mercy. The church is not the District Attorney or prosecuting attorney of culture. It needs to be more like the defense attorney (mercy/love/compassion).
We’ll do justice but we’ll also sacrifice Justice (your opinion/judgement) for forgiveness (mercy/compassion). This is more like Christ.
We need to talk less about leadership (self focused) and more about followership (what we are called to be…disciples).
This plays out for us to be both more Global AND Tribal. We can be more unique/specific in our specific settings (Tribal) with an emphasis on helping humankind for the sake of humankind (Global). Evangelical Humanists.
Leadership is only in scripture 1 time…..follower is in the NT over 300 times. Making followers requires different disciplines – listening to God, connecting, discerning.
We have created in the church the same cultural consumption models that we talk negatively about in culture. We critique the busyness and consumerism then we create programs and ministries that support the “I consume, therefore I am†mantra. Example: a ministry for every segmented part of the family. The mentality of if you come to church and give and serve, then you are a “memberâ€. A follower of Jesus is called to something more wholistic than that.
GE’s Take
I missed half his talk. I was there and I heard it…but one of Len’s answers totally cut me to the heart. He was asked something about making leaders or reproducing leaders. I thought at the time – “what a great question, can’t wait to hear Len’s take on it.” Of course it was so great of a question – I completely forgot and didn’t even write it down. Mainly because of how Len answered it.
“I’m so sick of hearing about leaders, we need more followers and lovers of Jesus. I’ve wondered if we’ve created a monster inside the church…” Then he went about how follower was in the New Testament over 300 times.
There will be some that blow that comment off. They’ll have to because they’ve built their whole life and ministry around the concept of “leadership.” But Len’s right on a significant level – if that leadership isn’t ultimately about following and loving Jesus, it’s vain, empty and pointless. In the hubbub of “reproducing leaders”, we’ve got to remember that we are all FOLLOWERS of Jesus. That’s the real leader.
It was a convicting few moments and one I’m still trying to process.
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