Launch Europe

Hey fam!

I really meant to blog when I was still in Manchester, but I was in no way prepared for how full the three days of Launch Europe were going to be. Over the course of three days, I experienced ten main sessions and four seminars with amazing speakers and incredible worship. In the midst of all of this, I had the opportunity to reconnect with so many of my friends that I have made over the past two years, as well as building relationships with some new faces as well.

There is absolutely no way I could write a post long enough to tell you about all of the amazing things I have learned over the past few days. I wrote way more than my hand could take at times. I felt like a sponge trying to soak it all in. It really was a blessing to be able to hear from these speakers, who come with so much wisdom and story and experience. I'll try my best to give you a summary.

The theme this year was Hero Maker - based on Dave Ferguson's book that you should read if you haven't. Being a hero maker basically entails a shift in perspective from "How do I grow my church?" to "How do WE build the Kingdom?" Notice the shift in language? It's all about helping to make heroes of others, since we cannot accomplish the Jesus mission alone. It means genuinely not caring about who gets the credit as long as the Kingdom of God is advanced.

The main sessions primarily focused on the essential elements of a hero maker: multiplication thinking, disciple making, permission giving, gift activating, and kingdom building. The first two kind of go hand in hand - we want to multiply disciples; in essence, making disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples, etc. Permission giving and gift activating mean having a bias to yes and checking your ego. It means giving people opportunities to learn and grow, all the while taking the focus off of yourself. Kingdom building is all about knowing that the time is now. The Kingdom of God is near and time is short, so we need to be building each other up and sending people out to do the work that God has prepared in advance for us to do. All of this requires an outward focus instead of longing for the spotlight. It's never about "our" church, because the Church isn't really ours - it's the bride of Christ, and we get to play a role as the body of Christ in spreading the good news.

I had the amazing opportunity to hear from speakers like Danielle Strickland, Peter Greig, Alan Hirsch, Dave Ferguson, Anthony Delaney, and so many others in the main sessions. We also had four seminars that we could sign up for in between sessions, and those were just as valuable as the sessions. One in particular that really stood out to me was with a newer church planter named Philip Jinadu, whose session was titled "Things I wish people had told me before I planted a church." He planted a church three years ago, so his perspective was very fresh and encouraging. He didn't try to downplay how hard it is to plant, but encouraged us to stick it out through the hard seasons because you will actually miss those times when they are gone. An example he gave was comparing the beginnings of church planting to going up a hill pushing a boulder while wearing roller skates. He says in the moment it is the most difficult thing you will do, but then once the boulder goes over the top, you'll be thanking God that he gave you roller skates to keep up!

Other seminars I went to were about using social media in the church and about saying no - which is something that is really hard to do when you work in the church! These two seminars were run by my friends, so it was wonderful being able to gain more wisdom from them. I also went to a seminar hosted by a musician named Lindz West. He's in a band called LZ7 that tours schools around the UK sharing the good news of Jesus, while also hosting churches in nightclubs and facilitating discipleship tools. He also just got back from touring 29 arenas with Jason Derulo - while also sharing the gospel at each show!! He's doing amazing work and also performed for us later at a session. It's incredible to see how creative people can be in finding new ways to share about Jesus.

The conference ended with a prayerful moment of commissioning - which, if you are unfamiliar, includes being anointed and prayed over while being sent out to plant a church or do something new. I was anointed and prayed over by a girl named Hannah, who prayed such incredible words over me. If you are unfamiliar with prophetic prayer, this might sound really weird, but the word she gave me from God was "first." She prayed that she saw courage in me for being one of the first to step forward, and that she sees me being the first in doing many new things. She prayed that she sees me as warrior woman on the frontlines of battle, as depicted in one of the Psalms. She prayed that sometimes it may seem that I'm going alone but that God still goes before me, and to keep the courage and faith. It was an amazing prayer and I was so encouraged. It's scary to think about at times, but I cannot wait to get going and to step into this dream that God has given me.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll join me in prayer as I pray for clarity and wisdom.

Today, I am heading into London with a new friend of mine who gave me a lift to Loughton last night. I'm staying with a brand new family that I had never met until last night, and they already are awesome.

Cheers,
Lindsay