Servant Leadership Forum: Matthew Barnett

September 10 and 11, Southeastern University is hosting a Servant Leadership Forum.  There are some pretty amazing speakers going on.  The second speaker was Matthew Barnett.  He is best-selling author of The Church that Never Sleeps and pastor of the Dream Center , is one of the most dynamic voices of God in Christianity today. The Dream Center began as a typical local church. But with a vision and a desire to impact the entire city of LosAngeles, the church grew from 39 members in 1994 to currently reaching more than 35,000 people each week at the Center’s 40 services and 273 ministries and outreaches. Barnett hosts a weekly television program, “The Church That Never Sleeps,” which airs throughout the world. President GeorgeW. Bush has endorsed the pastor with highest regards for his achievements, and the Dream Center has been recognized several times in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times for its contributions to the community.  Here are some of the notes from that talk:

• Ministry is not a tool to be a success
• Ministry is a tool to change people
• Revival is when the people of God affect the community tangible
• The church must be “open” 24 hrs a day where the community sends people in help your way
• Relevant is one step behind the culture, Revolutionary leads the culture
• Success is dreaming about helping the one
• You have to be trusted with influence to make a difference to the lost
• That is the heart of Jesus Christ: helping the one that is lost
• Make people belong before they believe
• Successful ministry to being able to show up in people’s lives, not having a great service

I’m reminded of something I heard this past week from Reggie McNeal of the Leadership Network, who said that we must think of the church as the “who,” not the “what.”  He also said that the church does not have a mission, but that the mission has a church. We must remain people over programs in order for the church to be what God has designed it to be.

Can you give names and stories of people you were involved with this week?