Pastor's Batterson and Houston Wisdom

I don't personally know Brian Houston, I do personally know Mark Batterson. The two of them are very effective and successful pastors of two world changing Churches.

Brian Houston is Pastor of Hillsong Church in Australia. You may have heard of them.

Mark is Pastor of several churches in Washington DC.

They were together at a conference in California where they are trying to help Pastors of Churches needing a breakthrough. I know churches needing a breakthrough. So, in the interest of those good men of God, here's what Brian Houston of Hillsong said that meant something to Mark:

"Don't worry about the periphery. Focus on the core. Every church has a soul. And the soul of the church will determine its destiny."

"Having an agenda--wrong motivations--will keep you out of the core."

"There are just some things you won't be able to do in a few months or a few years. You need a long-term committed to pastoring."

Brian talked some about the pattern principle in II Timothy 1:13: "Hold on to the pattern of right teaching you learned from me."

Every church has a pattern--a pattern of negativity or positivity, a pattern of responsibility or inconsistency, a pattern of complacency or conviction. What pattern are you perpetuating?

A few more one-liners:

"Your accent won't make you a foreigner here. Your attitude will."

"Meditate. Think concepts through. The best messages come out of meditation."

"My biggest enemy is busyness. I'm trying to unbusy myself."

"Stay normal."

Mark Spoke to this Conference as well and had these "10 most important things I have learned in the last 10 years of Ministry".

1) Pray ridiculous prayers
2) Be Yourself
3) Put Your Family First
4) Change of Pace + Change of Place = Change of Perspective
5) Leaders are Readers
6) Everything is an Experiment
7) 1% of What You Do Makes 99% of the Difference
8) Church is a tag-team sport
9) The Most Important and Most Difficult Job of a leader is creating culture
10) Market Internally

Color highlights are mine and are there for emphasis. Let those with ears to hear, hear. I will not comment on what Brian and Mark said. I could, but those things speak for themselves. Sometimes going to school on what others do that make it work better than we do is wise.

You're welcome.