A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of participating in the Nines Conference, which was an online leadership conference for church leaders around the world. Over 10,000 people logged on to watch the live event. We were given nine minutes to talk about the one thing we would want to share with other pastors and leaders. I chose to talk about what I believe is the greatest crisis the church is facing today. The crisis of transformation.
Here’s the video…
You can also go HERE to watch some of the other talks from the Nine’s including Rick Warren, John Ortberg, Mark Batterson, Craig Groeshcel, and Perry Noble just to name a few. There’s a wealth of wisdom there from people you’ve heard of and a few you haven’t.
If you had 9 minutes to talk about ONE thing, what would you talk about?
I would talk about the importance of recording your family’s story.
wow.. 9 minutes to talk about what is most important.
Anything that I could think of on the spur of the moment sounds so cliche.
Maybe I wouldn’t need 9 minutes. I would leave the viewer with just one question.. a question that I asked myself this morning and tweeted and blogged on…
“When was the last time the Bible challenged your beliefs?”
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..I’m so stupid… and so are you! =-.
@Jessica and @Tony, I love both of those things. I think you should both record 9 minutes on that.
Jessica, I’ve been meaning to interview my grandparents for years now.
Thank you so much for you words Pete! I would talk similarly to what you said. I would talk about the #1 thing I think God asks us for when we commit to him our hearts. For out of our hearts flows everything else. As you describe in the lack of life change, you cannot have Jesus as Savior separate from Jesus as Lord. Keep it up brother!
.-= Jeremy Wight´s last blog ..Don’t Waste Your Life =-.
If I could talk for nine minutes…and I’m making the assumption I’m talking to the church here…I’d talk about making sure that you don’t shoot the wounded.
We need to show love and compassion on the members of our body who are facing divorce, addiction or anything that is such a horrible “sin” they might need to be removed from a place of ministry or leadership. We need to focus on their restoration and showing them love in that difficult time rather than throwing them out as if they’re nothing more than human trash.
God can restore anyone…churches and Christians seem to forget that many times when the issues are those “dirty” things that “good Christians” won’t touch.
.-= Jason´s last blog ..Churches need to deal with autism =-.
Had to post again! Dude you are so wise. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with others!
.-= Jeremy Wight´s last blog ..Don’t Waste Your Life =-.
Dude… You had another 1:17!
Seriously, though, if I could speak about anything for nine minutes, I would speak about the necessity of clarity when communicating vision, both inside and outside the four walls of our faith communities.
Too often, we’re known as just ‘the church’, without being known for what we stand for and how we go about bringing change. I think, in a lot of ways, it requires a grassroots empowerment, encouraging people to own a piece of the vision for themselves, in their worlds, outside of Sunday mornings.
I would talk about the importance of being and looking out for number 2. Our church, job, relationships, blog, world, etc., is not about ourselves (number 1), but about those we are called to serve (number 2).
Pete, can’t watch the video, plan to do so when I get off work. the Coast Guard doesn’t like it too much when we stream video, or audio for that matter, so I’m not sure what exactly you talked about.
Being down here in New Orleans, I think the biggest crisis, and challenge, facing churches here, is relating Christ to our young people. Most of my youth are coming from broken homes. Most are impoverished. Most have been kicked around in a city that, IMHO, has been displaying reverse racism (only term that comes to mind), for many years now. My kids don’t have good role models at home, church isn’t ever mentioned there. So when they come to youth group, they are curious, but unwilling to commit. Taking that leap of faith into the unknown. They are learning what’s in the bible, and see how I, & others, live our lives, they can’t understand how we believe that Christ died for all of us. It’s not real for them. I’ve rambled enough. I have a draft post for my blog (which I don’t post to enough), but when I finish it I’ll let you know.
The importance of making unpopular decisions
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..A Difference Monday:Post-Op Edition =-.
Pete, wow. The tension you spoke of is the tension I am experiencing in life right now. When I emailed you last week about feeling on the edge, it’s that right there that is the issue. The good news is, I’ve realized for now the tension is good because I had been camped out in my fleshly life and I’m moving toward God and it’s creating the tension. Feels awful, but the end result will be good. Continuing with that thought, if I had 9 minutes, I would talk about love.
I don’t have a concept of love and I certainly don’t love God. Shocking as that may sound, I’ve realized how true it is. I was trying to serve God out of fear, shame, guilt, etc… and not at all out of love. I don’t know how to love really, but I’m learning. Francis Chan has totally flipped my life inside out with Crazy Love. I have gone back and forth from wanting to burn the book (chps 4 and 5 were rough) to realizing that I really do desire to fall in love with God. Coming from where I’ve been, that’s pretty cool. My faith, beliefs, etc.. have been shaken and I am more certain today than I’ve ever been that I am going to come out of this with God and ok. I have a new understanding of love I think and while it’s not completely from my head to my heart yet, that is the absolute desire of my heart.
I think what needs talked about is our tendancy as church goers to want everything centered around our needs. The music has to be
MY style, and the sermon needs to address MY needs. If we all went to church with the intent of serving and making the service about His glorification, there would be alot less grumbling. And we might have a more effective ministry. I’ve heard that the best way to learn is to teach. We are so intent on being fed that we forget to feed, not just others but ourselves as well.
I caught the conference, awesome concept! What I would ask churches is simply, “Why would God fund you?” It’s a multi-faceted question that leads to the heart of the issues of the day & the church’s calling. God resources vision, His vision!
Well Pete, i havent watched your video jsut yet but your question alone made me realise that there is something that has been a great issue in my life for some years now, so in answer to the question….. i would talk about hypocrisy within the church. I have experienced more alienation and judgement from church goers and believers than I have from the rest of the world that either believe in God or as they like to say “a higher power” or even dont believe at all. We are all human at the end of the day and we all fall short of the mark. Even if we closed ourselves in a closet for one day we would still sin just by our thoughts alone. I dont believe that God expects perfection from us and it is after all HIS GRACE we live by every day. HIs grace is something that I have been coming to understand more and more these last few months, I too am a judgemental person and the very thing i have been judging others on are the very circumstances i have found myself battling to overcome and I have started understanding how much we actually need God’s grace in our lives. Imagine if God treated us the way we treat others (with condemnation, and thinking we as “christains” are above everyone else) would there be a human race left? We as christians should be more forgiving and tolerant of others, more understanding more gracious and more loving and compasionate for that is the very way God has treated us so who are we to treat others as if they are inferior to us just cause they are not believers and their liefstyle represent sin or what we would classify as sinful just cause we think we know the full thruth on how God means for us to conduct our lives. Maybe the example we have set as christians is the very thing that makes people run in the opposite direction from God! I’m not saying that we should be walk overs but I believe that if we ask God for His wisdom and to direct our feet in the paths that we should walk we wont beocme walk overs and we will learn to hear and understand Gods voice and guidance in our lives.
Julie….. I would just like to comment on your post… I have battled many years with the concept of what it means to love God but more importantly what it means to be loved by God….. i dont think it is a truth we can fully grassp in our earthly mind but I did read a book recently called “The Shack” which gave me a great glimpse of what Gods idea of a relationship and his love towards us is. The way we perceive love I think has something to do with the way we experienced love from parents, siblings, friends and partners while gowing through our various stages of life and we have all at one time come to realise or rather believe that at one time or another that love will hurt us and we take that pain and translate it in to our relationship with God. There is also a pasage in the bible John 17:6-19 were Jesus actually prays for his people (for us) that alone speaks volumes of how special we are to, him…. he prayed for us!!!! that touched my heart more than I can express in words. Remember also when you go through obsticles in life it is not God punishing you but rather him reavealing a part of his character to us so that we can see how much he really loves and cares for us but we need to open our eyes and see what it is he is showing us instead of focusing on ourselves. Keep going strong you will look back one day and will understand God and love God more than you thought possible. Keep moving
Your response was really awesome! It is so true…I feel like I see this everywhere I go and I even fall into it myself at times.
As for my nine minutes, I would ask why the evangelical church continues to embrace and cater to the desire to be the “latest and greatest”…in worship, in sound and lighting, in building campaigns. Why can’t we just go back to the simple way? Are we that afraid that we will lose this generation if we’re not putting on a concert every Sunday…? Maybe I’m being a little opinionated right now and a little extreme, but I believe God is in control and He doesn’t need pyrotechnics to get a hold of someone’s heart.
I don’t know, I’d have to think about it.
Probably something on “Communicating Clearly” or “Being Passionate” – I see a huge need for both for a long list of reasons. Mainly because I’ve seen a big need for both growing up in the Bible belt of the south (at least through my eyes).
.-= Nick´s last blog ..Reproducing as a Small Group =-.
@maria, sadly I agree with you.
.-= Pete Wilson´s last blog ..A Crisis In The Church? =-.
@Josh, wow, that’s a good one. Need to sit down with you sometime and see how you think we can do better at this here at CP.
.-= Pete Wilson´s last blog ..A Crisis In The Church? =-.
Pete,
I finally got to view the video… you nailed it.
Where is the transformation?
Chapter 16 of John.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..I’m so stupid… and so are you! =-.
I’ve been spinning this question round and about all day long. Seriously. What would I want to spend 9 minutes talking about? The importance of living in truth. Living, breathing, facing truth…hardcore. Not just our narrow perspectives of how we think things are or how they should be…but God-Centered truth. How important it is to be truth-tellers to those around us. Being willing to ask the hard questions and sit still long enough to face the answers…no matter how difficult.
So my answer would be…9 minutes of Truth.
.-= jessica´s last blog ..Facedown =-.
I’m affraid it wouldn’t be pretty. I would have to address God’s distaste for laziness, and our tendancy to ride the bench and let others get in the game. I’m guilty of this everyday.
We must all begin to take ownership for the kingdom, as we are heirs to it already.
.-= Aaron B. Reddin´s last blog ..Church vs. Parachurch…I shouldn’t have to say this… =-.
I wish I could have watched the Crisis Of Transformation in it’s fullness. Since my little notebook wants to do it’s own thing, I can caught a sentence then it stops, oh well, I did caught a little of what you said, and it will not leave my mind. You hit the nail on it’s head. Then I started to ponder this, I know you as pastors put it out there, to go directly as God has shown you, and so much want us to grab it, that is a tough one for you, we want to grab it too. Most of the time, it goes from your mouth to our heads and not our hearts, I was thinking it has taken me years to allow God to do just the little in my life He has worked on,(that’s cause I am slow) lol, well, it is a great excuse anyway. But all the treasure I have heard spoke for years, has all traveled from God given lips and heart to my head and not my heart. For us to allow God to transform me, it has to get down deep in my heart. That is where it belongs to change my life, it is that willingness to swallow, and not just absorb and cast it out of my mind. I think this church and so many more now are heading in the direction of allowing us to go back and review what has been said, mull it around, and swallow. That is the freedom of a relationship we have instead of a religionship we can become. Thank you for standing for God’s Word, and offering a freedom in Christ.
Pete You got 9 minutes, I would speak of giving yourself to the church a little more. I believe there is alot more to church then just going to church services or bible studies. I am focusing more on giving more time for my church, just an idea my friend. I hope Brewer is feeling better, I ma praying for him Mike
.-= mike mikovich´s last blog ..Giving 10% to God=You will be blessed =-.
The gospel.
.-= Dani´s last blog ..The God of the Desperate =-.
HIV/AIDS.
.-= kristiapplesauce´s last blog ..Agee’s =-.
Maria, Thank you so much for your sweetness. I started to read The Shack this past winter when I was recuperating from my surgery, but must not have been ready for my assumptions to be shaken. I’m really on a quest to fall in love with the Lord and to lay those assumptions down, so maybe I need to try reading it again.
Naomi, when I have those problems watching a video, I find that if I pause it and let it buffer all of the way through, I can watch it without the little pauses that seem to happen.
Truth and unity.
.-= nate´s last blog ..The Next Adventure: How to Make it Work =-.
vision.