Mark Batterson
Mark started off the afternoon telling the story from National Community Church in Washington, D.C.
- Mark tried to start a church right after college.
- John Chancellor: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."
- The cure for the fear of failure is not success. It is failure in small doses so you build up an immunity to failure.
- Sometimes we'd start with 7 or 8 people, and that included the Father, Son and Holy Spirit...at least on a good Sunday.
- They have two theater locations on Metro stops in D.C. Their primary location is at Union Station on Capitol Hill.
- 73% of attendees are single 20-somethings. They have an annual turnover rate of 50%.
- Last year they opened Ebenezer's -- a coffeehouse outreach.
- There are ways of doing church that no one has thought of.
- Movie screens are postmodern stained glass. God is changing people in today's culture through moving video.
- Neurologically, a picture is worth 10 million words. That's why people learn through visuals.
- Podcasting and blogging are ways to reach people in new ways.
Five quick closing thoughts...
- Enjoy the journey. Thank God for where you are.
- Be yourself. Be who God has made you.
- Stop criticizing. I'm tired of the church being known for what it's against.
- Offend Pharisees. There will be Phar-Nazi's somewhere that will shoot arrows at you. Who will you be afraid of offending? Mark: "I'm afraid of offending the Holy Spirit."
- Make mistakes. Surveying people at the end of their life, 84% regret things they didn't do while only 16% regret things they did. So just try stuff.
Great job Batterson!