Today I had the opportunity to attend a conference called "Building Dynamic Pastors." The conference is put on by Greene County Baptist Association, and hosted by Second Baptist-Springfield, each year. The three speakers this year were John Marshall, Hosea Bilyeu, and Micah Fries.
I have expressed my admiration for Dr. Marshall and "Hosey" before on this blog. They are great men of God, and each has had a large influence on my ministry. I sit at their feet everytime I get a chance. Micah (about my age) is a pastor in St. Joseph, and is brilliant. He is one of the leading, young pastors in the nation. All three of these men had great things to say today, and I left blessed and encouraged. Let me share with you some of the quotes I wrote down from today (some are secondhand)...
"Dead faith is often characterized by faith in some truth over all truth." - Micah
"The ironic thing about the Pharisees is that they were arguing for thier own piety, while planning the murder of God." - Micah
"The first task of a leader is to define current reality." - Hosea
"One step ahead you're a leader. Two steps ahead you're a martyr." - Hosea
"If you're in a growing church, it will need a new pastor every five years. That pastor will either be you or someone else." - Hosea (on the need for continued personal growth)
"Some pastors say they have 20 years experience when in reality they have one year of experience 19 times." - Hosea (same topic)
"400 million people use Facebook. If Facebook were a nation, it would be more populous than India or China." - Dr. Marshall
"I once sent LOL to someone who had lost a loved one. I thought it meant "lots of love!" - Dr. Marshall (on how not to do social networking)
