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    "I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me."

    (Gal. 2:20 CEV)

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    • November 13, 2008

    Sticks Conference [Day 2] continued…

    As promised in my last post, here is the continuation of my summary from the second day of talks. In this SticksStagepost I include Shannon O’Dell from Brand New Church in Arkansas and Dwight Mason of New Pointe Community Church in Ohio. Here we go…

    Shannon O’Dell (Brand New Church) Day 2|Session 2

    “Rural America is a HUGE MISSION FIELD!!!”

    Galatians 2

    1 Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. 2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.  4 Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there-false ones, really-who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. 5 But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.  6 And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)

    “Rural America Needs a Vision!!!”ShannonO

    Shannon was just full of “quotables;” here are just a few that really grabbed my attention:

    “Do not be crippled by those who ‘seem to be leaders…’”

    “We believe the incarnation and virgin birth of our God; we believe the Bible is the inspired, God-breathed, written Word of God…” “We have the God of the universe living within us and we don’t believe it…”

    “Leading with my life is what makes a difference…not some 20-25 minute ‘relevant’ talk each week.”

    Shannon also shared (6) difficult decisions a leader will be faced with and must deal with in order to remain effective.

    Shannon was awesome as a speaker and incredibly affirming and encouraging to me. Several things that he emphatically expressed hit very close to home with me. He was also extremely engaging with humor and a very “down home” attitude. I really enjoyed hearing his testimony and heart.

    Dwight Mason (New Pointe Community Church) Day 2|Session 3

    DwightM“Nothing happens without leadership”

    Dwight reminded us that Jesus said; “Follow Me…” He then asked us, “Can you say that?” “Are you comfortable with people following you” He reminded us that the apostle Paul had repeatedly spoken to the churches he ministered to; “Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) Throughout Dwight’s message, he continually brought us back to this point and self examination…that as leaders (God’s leaders) we must be following Christ ourselves and we must invite others to follow us as we follow HIM.

    Other points from Dwight’s talk follow:

    Four things a Leader needs…

    Dwight is from the Free Methodist tribe (my tribe) and it was a pleasure to hear him speak. This too was another challenging, affirming, reminder of the great call and commission that God has put upon the lives of His leaders. In summary, I think the three sessions from Day 2 of the Sticks complimented one another very well. I don’t know if it was planned or not…at least from human planning anyway (wink). Tim Stevens’ blog shares some other highlights from the inspire speakers at the Sticks; here’s his summary from Dwight’s talk.

    If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

    Increasing in Him,
    jeff

    Topics: A Deeper Walk, Becoming the Word, Church Stuff, Dailyness..., Shaping Me |

    One Response to “Sticks Conference [Day 2] continued…”

    1. Meg Says:
      November 13th, 2008 at 11:25 am

      I loved Shannon and Dwight, they both had great points and were very affirming. It definitely challenged me to be a better leader and a more intentional one.

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