Robert A Schuller

The only way you can walk through life successfully is to walk in your own shoes.

1. Don't go to work and do a job: go to your destiny and fulfil your calling.
2. If you've got the faith, God has the power
3. God is answering your prayers

Donna Schuller

You must rethink who you are daily, reframing yourself according to Christ.

Replace wrong thoughts with God's thoughts and words.

Jesus was the ultimate reframer.

Gary Smalley

If you want good relationships, rethink trying to change your spouse or friend or colleague.
Change yourself

The things that control you are your beliefs.

The more I memorise and meditate on God's word, I hide it in my heart. The more I do that, the more His word becomes my beliefs and then He controls me!

Bill Dallas

Rethinking failure

We make mistakes
God allows consequences
God redeems - our soul and our failures

Ps 138:7 and 8

Lou Holtz

If you want some great advice, listen to your spouse.

If you didn't go home, who would miss you?
If you didn't go to work, who would miss you?
It's all about meaningful relationships.

3 simple rules
1. Do right
2. Do everything to the best of your ability
3. Show people you care

Jon Gordon

Rethinking purpose

People are most energised when they are using their strengths for a bigger purpose.
Purpose is the ultimate fuel for an energised life.
Negativity brings inefficiency.
We have a choice between 2 roads - positive or negative.

Filled with divine (enthusiastic) and filled with purpose.

Bring purpose to what you do everyday

Dr Les Parrott

Rethinking healthy relationships

Your relationship university was the family you grew up in.

This generation has a hunger and thirst for information on healthy relationships.

If you try to build intimacy with another person, before you do the hard work of getting whole yourself, all your relationships become an attempt to complete yourself and will fall flat.

Your relationships can only be as healthy as the least healthy person in them.

How do you be healthy?
Lock in the following.....
1. Profound significance - understand your profound significance to God and His deep love for you
2. Unswerving authenticity - your relationship with you (not pleasing others)
3. Self-giving love - recognising other's needs. Walking the extra mile.

Your internal dialogue is the most significant conversation yo have. 73% of your self-talk is negative.

Tim Clinton

2 Cor 11:1-3
Trading our freedom - losing our heart with God and life

How do good people lose heart?
They are assaulted by pain. This makes them feel angry or anxious. If they can't solve their pain then they feel alienated or arrogant. This leads to adulteries of the heart to calm or soothe their heart. This leads to addiction where I am dependant on this.

1 John 5:21
Idols - when we give ourselves to something else to calm or soothe ourselves
Gal 5:1

Mark Kvamme rethink tank

Simplicity of message.

A good website listens carefully to people.
Iterate always - significant change every 2 weeks.

We addresses should have around 6 letters or 2 syllables and be spelt like they sound eg yahoo, google, amazon

We are moving from the information age to the attention age. How do we get people's attention?

What does this technology overload mean for preachers - the power of communication in person, real life connection and telling stories.

Michael Guillen

How do I label the person I have become? 'Christian' used to hold a cherished place in America. 84% of Americans identify as Christian. Who keeps the abortion clinics busy? Who are the ads celebrating consumerism aimed at?

The spiritual me generation is saying all roads lead to a god of my own making.

Christian? Religious? Spiritual?.... Lovestruck.

NB this is strongly contextual to USA

Chris Seay part 2

Prophetic acts happen when we live into the story. The Bible is our story.

The Advent Conspiracy
What does it mean to be a global christian?

Chris Seay

Prophetic communication is painting the world as it is, and as it should be

Dan Kimball

Are we so busy with religious activity that we are in a bubble of sub-culture?

Answer that by asking - Who are you praying for right now?

Mark Kvamme

Silicon Valley Executive - Sequioa Capital and start up investor in youtube, yahoo etc

60 seconds

The average website has 10 seconds to get your attention.
The next 10 seconds answering 'what is this'?
The next 10 seconds answering 'can I navigate this?'

If people spend 3 minutes on your website, it's great!

In 60 seconds you can
: read 250-300 words
: type 33 words
: write 22 words

Everything is going digital and getting shorter.
Once it goes digital, it never disappears.

Communication is now becoming asynchronous. Technology was created to bring those who were far away closer. Now it is starting to move those who are closer further away.
"We will soon reminisce about evenings as a family gathered around the TV" Michael Moritz

Where to look in the future? The iphone. If it's not in my phone,does it exist?

Rethink how do I reach people who are bombarded by media?

HB London Jnr

We need to rethink how we live and what our motivations are.

Be an example

Give God the first-fruits of your time
Have healthy relationships
Get adequate rest (or you make poor decisions).
Be in a supportive relationship (accountability)
Like what you do
Be happy
Be vigilant

Bishop Charles Blake

Currently sponsoring 100,000 African orphans.

What go you here, will not get you there.

We live on a planet with great problems. We need great dreams and great faith.

Great dreams mandate great resources. Unless your dream requires a miracle, He will reduce your resources until He gets the glory of a miracle.

Charles Colson - my favourite so far!!

What is Christianity?
A view of total ultimate reality.
All of life is under the sovereign creator God.
Get away from 'God and me'

Christians need to
: understand the basic truths of Christianity
: defend the truths
: live out the truths
: explain these truths lovingly to others

It must affect the way you live.

First impressions

Faith built this place. This campus is incredible and the ladies bathroom is sensational! (They were made possible by an anonymous cash donation from someone who wanted the women of the church to know they were valued.)

Everywhere there are small written testimonies of people who have helped build this facility. One showed a lady who first got saved when she was 6, and came to one of the early services Dr Schuller ran at a drive-in movie theatre. Many years later,she gave the first $1,000,000 gift to build the welcome and hospitality centre.

It is inspiring. Faith and possibility thinking.

Christian Cultural Centre

A great church in Brooklyn - mainly an African American congregation of around 28000.
We attended the 10:30am service (although it started around 11).

Couple of observations:
1. Ushers are SO important! Having no idea what the culture is here, or where to go, and feeling a little overwhelmed having lined up and joining thousands of people coming in, it was so great having competent and helpful ushers. Those who took the initiative to notice we looked a bit lost, and help us out, were a real blessing.

2. Baby Dedications. I loved the way they did this. All the families, relatives and godparents (who had been prayerfully chosen) came up on stage. Elders and pastors all came and prayed for each family, even though the Senior Pastor lead this section. What I really loved was the way the parents all repeated (like wedding vows) a really meaningful vow of dedication of their children. Then, the families and whole congregation repeated a vow as well, relating to how they would pray for the child and care for the family.

3. Change is lead well. This was the last time baby dedications would be done in a Sunday service and this was announced while we were there. Dr Bernard had been doing a series on change, as well as obviously teaching the importance of change over years I would say. The pastor who made this announcement did in such a positive way, and reminded everyone of what Dr Bernard has always taught them. The dedications will now happen on a Saturday afternoon once a month and in a smaller venue and would be done in such a way as to make it special for the families - gifts, video of the service, worship etc. You could tell in the way this was announced, and in the way people responded that this is a church that is lead well.

4. Dr Bernard's 5 levels of renewal:
Personal renewal
Relational renewal
Renewal of purpose
Structural renewal
Cultural renewal

Rethinking....

I will be keeping a record here of some thoughts while attending Rethink...