Hillsong Conference Notes Session 1

John Maxwell - Tues 5/7
I found John to be a dynamic, engaging speaker who is very passionate to see people's potential fulfilled, but most of all for God to be first. He was one of my most favourite speakers during the Hillsong conference. He had a way of helping you remember his points, and his illustrations from his life or the lives of those he knew were always inspirational and encouraging.


John used to be a minister but God directed him into the area of leadership. Nowadays, he is a well-sought after speaker not just for Churches, but for secular and non-secular businesses and organisations all over the world.


Points on leadership

1. Leaders must find their identity in Christ, not in the people they lead.


And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

1 Cor 2:1-2

Paul's identity was in the Christ he knew. He got himself out of the way, purposed to be hidden behind the cross so that when anything happened, people would see Jesus. Paul kept it simple: Christ and Him crucified. 

John mentioned that at an early stage in his ministry, he would be discouraged by the look on people's faces, and how many members were in his Church. God told him, "you've been keeping count but if you'll trust me, I'll keep the count."

God is enough. You don't need anything else. The world needs to know that the answer is God and nothing else. If you find your true identity in Christ, and not in people, then the world won't see you but Jesus.

Mel's Thoughts:

This is so true. We who are on stage ministering tend to look out over the people, and if we are not careful, we let the numbers and the look on their faces affect our ability to minister faithfully. Yet, our first and foremost responsibility is to God. We just need to do what we are lead to, and God will do the rest.

Additionally, the looks on people's faces don't tell the whole story. The fact that they don't tell you "that was a good sermon" does not mean that God did not speak to them in some way. One criticism does not equate to the whole congregation disliking you. 

When our identity is in Christ, we are secure, steadfast. When we link our identity to people, we are insecure, and become a flickering flame that is easily blown out.

I love how God told John, "Let ME keep count." How can we ever do an accurate count anyway? We can't see what is happening in the big picture - we can never underestimate the influence we have over people's lives when we are faithful and depend on God. God IS truly all we need.

2. Leaders possess a God-perspective that allows them to endure difficult times.

One difference between leaders and others is that leaders see things differently. Good ones tend to see more than others see (potential), and they see it before (quicker) than others.

[We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

2 Cor 4:8-10 

In this passage of scripture, Paul is saying, in effect, "the outside looks a mess, but the inside is a different story". The point of every struggle is what is happening on the inside of us. When we are bigger on the inside than the outside, the things on the outside will not control the inside. Leadership is an INSIDE job.

Mel's Thoughts:

"When we are bigger on the inside than the outside, the things on the outside will not control the inside" - when we live by, and in dependence on the power and leading of God, we are working on a reservoir of ability and strength far beyond our own. Every battle is a time to dig our roots deeper into the Rock in which we stand. 

I've also found that battles are also times when we are forced to jettison something in our lives that was a dead weight. Amongst other things, battles are a time of pruning, of purifying. If we are good soldiers, and good students, we will learn from it and thrive. We become stronger, our vision refocuses and clears, our perspective widens and deepens. We realise that our strength is nothing, but that the strength of God is reliable, exceedingly mighty. We become bigger on the inside. Then, no tempest outside the lighthouse will make us tremble - we will face the storm with steely-eyed resolve and continue to tend the light.

3. God wants to Hyper ec perissos you!

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...

Eph 3: 20

Hyper ec perissos is the Greek that the NKJV has translated  "exceedingly abundantly". Each of these Greek words build on each other as superlatives. John Maxwell said, if the world was Greek, America would have the 'Hyperbowl' rather than the 'Superbowl' (is that how you spell it??).

He told a story of how when he was young, he would always somehow be stuck with washing the dishes. So being young, and a boy, he would turn on the taps to fill the sink, then go out and slam dunk a few balls, then go back in. He would usually time it so that when he returned, the sink would be just full. This is analogous to hyper.

Sometimes, he'd squeeze in another shot at the basketball ring and run back to the kitchen sink with it brimming over with water. This is analogous to hyper ec.

One day, however, he left the taps running to throw a few hoops and found his friends in his driveway. Yes, the tap was running, but he couldn't help himself and played a game with them. He was winning too, when his mother angrily screamed his name. He said, "that was the day that we were the only house in the neighbourhood with an indoor swimming pool."The sink was hyper ec perissos.

God does not just do what we ask, and He is not only capable of accomplishing it, He is able to do so in hyper ec perissos style!

Mel's Thoughts:

Is there anything you've been praying or waiting for, but it has been long in coming? David waited more than 10 years to become King; Abraham waited several decades before Isaac was born; Joseph endured hardship and a long waiting period before his dream was fulfilled: some things take time. But when they come, it will be gloriously mind-blowing.

God's timing is always just right. Has the waiting made God seem small in your eyes? Then in Jesus' name, I speak faith and renewed strength to persevere into your heart: your God is more than able. He who created the roaring waves, the dainty lilly, and your heartbeat in your mother's womb has your life in His hands. You cannot see the whole picture, but God can. Trust Him.

Meditate on the bigness of God and what He has done in others' and in your life and begin to believe again that God is able to do hyper ec perissos above all that we ask or think.