By Dick Alexander
“¢ Encouragement
“¢ Connecting
“¢ Ideas
“¢ Challenge
“¢ Inner life
“¢ Leadership
And all in a few minutes each week. It sounds like a lot to promise, but Tim Harlow, 2014 North American Christian Convention president, makes and keeps big promises.
Last year at a pastors” conference, Tim pulled together 50 outstanding Christian church leaders and asked each of them to share one thought, principle, or idea on leading churches that will reach the world. The result is a series of short videos being shared by the NACC, one each week via e-mail, with follow-up ideas for personal prayer.
Here are some quick observations about what these videos say about our fellowship of churches:
We have great leaders in our churches, and lots of them. They offer quality insights!
You thought preachers couldn”t say anything with brevity? These videos are mostly two minutes. The really wordy ones run between three and four minutes. It can be done!
We work for a balance of life and ministry. In building growing churches, there”s as much input in the videos on who we are as on what we do.
There are a variety of approaches and styles. There”s no one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter slant.
We serve in an encouraging environment. Listen to these videos several weeks in a row and you can”t help but be encouraged. Many are challenging, but always in helpful, supportive ways.
There are excellent leadership ideas in the thoughts of these 50 leaders. The follow-up ideas for prayer and reflection are designed to feed the spiritual formation of the participants. This isn”t only a gold nugget on leadership””it”s a pathway for personal growth.
If you”ve ever felt like the NACC was a great one-week experience but needed more long-term impact, these videos are an excellent way to let the convention have a transforming influence in re-missioning your church. Leaders who watch the videos and pray through the follow-up suggestions will have a big leg up on developing a focused, outreach-oriented church even before attending the 2014 NACC.
And the material is easily transferable””it”s ultra-simple to share selected videos with a church staff or elders.
The 2014 NACC is on target to move our fellowship of churches onto Jesus” mission for his church. You can be part of the ramp-up for that each week by spending just a few minutes getting dynamic, solid thoughts through the NACC leadership videos. If you”re not currently receiving them, visit gotonacc.org to sign up, and check out previous videos at vimeo.com/gotonacc. And did I say they”re free?
Dick Alexander serves as prayer chairman for the 2014 North American Christian Convention.
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