I think anything worth learning is worth processing. This is why I am taking a few days to unpack these conference thoughts and apply it to a youth ministry and life context. Another reason I am braking it down is because many you have not been to a conference, of any kind, in a while and I want to help you hear from diverse leaders.
I skipped the youth ministry conferences last year because of time, cost, and really boredom. Instead, I attended Killer Tribes blogging and leadership conference. You can check our my Day 1 post here and my Day 2 post here. Onward to day three .
Brad Lomenick is the catalyst for, well, the Catalyst conference. His topic was What Make A Movement. Here are my notes:
Brad said some pre-requisites are required before our movement begins
We Need
Real Interaction– Movements require that we look for ways to share our voice and listen to those we lead. Brad mentioned that Catalyst has real people that call attendees to see how they are doing post conference. This is real interaction. How about you? What is your interaction like with students? Do you have lunch with them? Call them? Social media should be the means to real interactions not the end. A post, a tweet, and a text is not real interaction.
A leader and some followers– John Maxwell says, if you want to know if you are a leader or not look behind you. If there are people following, you’er a leader. If no one is there you are simply out for a walk. Who’s following you?
To be human – Movement require we ge our hands dirty. God had spoken from heaven in the O.T. but it wasn’t until God came in Christ that the movement began. My take away is to get away from speaking off the mountain and get into the valley’s of people’s lives. That’s where and when the movement will begin.
To be approachable- Brad summed it up when he sad, “If you’re big, act small.”
Let the tribe own the movement- This speaks to many of my posts on letting students own, run, and live out their God given dreams for their ministry. We must remember we are only stewards of the ministry. It’s what we leave behind that counts.
Let your passion be unhinged– Love the customer as much as the product. Youth workers, do you love youth ministry, preaching, programming, or do you love students? It’s not too late to change.
Humble, Hunger, Hustle -Act like you don’t belong but work like you do.
Set standards that scare the crap our of you- Most of the time we can’t set standards for someone else, unless they are our employees. That leaves setting scary standards for ourselves. I am setting new standards for myself when I comes to ministry, writing (I write 5 days a week, and that is scary) and even my You Tube Channel. I plan on announcing some new scary standards for myself very soon, but it will totally benefit you.
Last Quote: Excellence creates credibility which leads to connection
You can follow Brad Lomenick @bradlomenick
How about you? Are you trying to start a movement in your church, youth ministry, or even your own life? Which of these principles do you need to jump on today?