Ep 040: Keeping Up With Culture - An Interview with Larry Osborne

Welcome to Episode 40 of the Joshua Gagnon Leadership Podcast!If you’re a leader in the New England area, you’re invited to Activate 2016, a one-day leadership event designed to encourage and equip leaders to continue advancing God’s Kingdom in this region. We will be hearing from Pastors Mark Batterson, Larry Osborne, Levi Lusko, and Josh Gagnon, and we will also be offering new break out sessions which are designed to educate and develop leaders within their specialized areas of ministry. Come join us on Wednesday, September 21 at Next Level Church in Somersworth, NH as we worship, learn, and grow as leaders together at Activate 2016. Sign up today! Go to www.activateleaders.com for more information.Today’s guest is Larry Osborne, who will be one of the keynote speakers at Activate 2016. ​Larry has served as a Senior Pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, California since 1980. The church has grown from 128 to over 11,000 in weekend attendance, and has been honored as one of the ten most influential churches in America for its pioneering efforts in the multi-site movement, sermon-based small groups, and its creative approach to shared leadership. Larry’s books include Thriving in Babylon, Accidental Pharisees, Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret, Sticky Teams, Sticky Church, Ten Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe, Spirituality For The Rest Of Us, Mission Creep, and The Unity Factor.Learn More About Larry:Larry’s Twitter: @LarryOsborneLarry’s Instagram: @LarryOsborneNorth Coast Church: http://www.northcoastchurch.com/Mentioned In This Episode:Sticky Church by Larry Osborne: http://amzn.to/2bdgB2YSticky Teams by Larry Osborne: http://amzn.to/2bA6dSaSticky Leaders by Larry Osborne: http://amzn.to/2bg2VycLCBC (Lives Changed By Christ): http://www.lcbcchurch.com/ 3 Takeaways For Leaders:1. Understand the world you live in. Pastor Larry explained that he regularly reads news articles from various news sources and reads topics that he might not even have much interest in. He does this to be well-versed in the society he lives in so that he can better understand the culture he is trying to reach. 2. Use plain language from the stage. If you’re trying to reach those who are “not yet Christians”, as Pastor Larry puts it, they will be receptive to anything you preach from the Bible as long as you speak using words they will understand. Pastor Larry mentioned that they just wrapped a teaching series at North Coast about the book of Exodus, which was received well by his church because he spoke in a way they could understand and learn how it applies to their lives.3. Culture is going in the direction of having everything “on demand”, and the church will soon follow that trend. Entertainment is catered to when and where people want it, from listening to a personalized music playlist to being able to reruns of TV shows at your convenience. Holding mid-week church services gives people that same level of convenience and will perhaps be the norm among modern churches.Quotes From This Episode:“One of our goals was to be a brick in the building God was building somewhere else.” - Larry Osborne“Part of the problem sometimes with youth is that your insecurity shows up because you try to act more in control and wiser than you are.” - Larry Osborne“We all overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what God can do in five.” - Larry Osborne“Some of the greatest solutions to our toughest problems come from people who are outside of our own little world.” - Larry Osborne“Live in the world that the people you’re trying to serve live in.” - Roman Archer“What has already happened that nobody noticed?” - Larry Osborne“You can have a lot of great ideas, but if you try to chase them all, you’ll get in trouble.” - Larry Osborne“God’s will often has a ‘what to do’, but it also has a ‘when to do it’.” - Larry Osborne