Larry Osbourne – Living a Kingdom Life

One of my favorite books is, “A Contrarians Guide to Knowing God” by Larry Osborne. At the Exponential Conference I got to attend a workshop he did. Here are my notes from it:

1. Build a church you would want to go to
– Not big, not like someone else’s, not successful…
– The church you would want to go to is the only church you an lead intuitively and the only church God has gifted you to lead

2. Fulfill your calling, not your potential
– Potential is a bitch goddess. It will kill you.
– When you’re first starting you get lots of encouragement that you believe is fact.
– Be all you can be is great for the army, stinks for God’s Kingdom
– Son, at 7, “I don’t like it when daddy writes books, because he doesn’t play with me.”

– Committed to not write book until youngest graduated from High School. All his kids follow Jesus and have found churches in the towns they move to.

3. Focus on being a sticky church
– No one stays at a church because they were assimilated into a program, they stay because they’ve been velcroed into relationships.
– “I’m less needed when people are genuinely connected.”
– “Northcoast is all about sticky relationships.”

4. Live like a mature Christian, not a pastor
– If think being a pastor means you have to live differently, something is wrong with your paradigm.
– If do, no longer have nagging question: “Who is watching?” (That question will kill you, and poison your kids.)
– You might lose people, but you’ll save your family.

5. Lose your church before you lose your family
– If on path where you’re putting family on back burner for church (“for awhile”) you are on a very bad path. And that other path never comes.
– The bigger the church gets, the less discretionary time you have. (It’s a myth that a large staff will give you discretionary time.)
– So master this now, or you won’t later.
– Never has done counseling after 5:00 p.m.

– featured on newchurches.com