Gospel-Centered Leadership

Last night and today I attended the Fellowship in the Gospel conference put on by several area pastors and hosted by Berean Baptist Church in Livonia, MI. There were a couple hundred men in attendance ranging in age from a sixth grader and a couple of my middle schoolers to upwards of 70 years old. The theme of the conference was "Gospel-Centered Leadership." The keynote speaker is from a church about 20 miles south of where I'll be living in Denver, CO after the internship. I wanted to post a few of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the conference.

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"It’s profoundly difficult to lead your people to God when you substitute yourself as God."

"On a balance, breath outweighs any merit of my own." (Ps. 62:9)

"A father’s heart burns with rage when his son is offended. God took his rage toward those who offended His son and poured it out on his son."

"The role of the husband begins at the atonement, not the altar."

Speaking of the need for dads to understand that their children will sin, one speaker joked..."While your wife is pregnant, you pray for a normal kid. Then after he/she is born, normal is no longer good enough."

"Destructive criticism is like someone puking on you. It makes them feel better, but it stinks for you."

"By making other people feel responsible for your happiness, you build a barrier that makes it difficult for them to feel comfortable offering you constructive criticism."

"If God's perfect leadership was rejected (in the garden), how much more should I expect my imperfect leadership to be rejected and criticized."

One speaker referenced this quote by John Piper, "It is a great sadness when sufferers seek relief by sparing God his sovereignty over pain. The sadness is that this undercuts the very hope in aims to create ... Whatever Satan's liberty in unleashing calamity upon us, God never drops the leash that bins his neck." The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God

"Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping others will die."

"How I handle criticism is a current gauge that reflects how much I am believing and applying the gospel at that moment."

"When receiving criticism, expect more. There is always more."