Fred Uhl

From time to time, the staff here at CBG is blessed to sit down with some of the greatest minds in church leadership today.  In the past, we have had the opportunity to be one-on-one with Perry Noble from NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina and Dan Southerland from Church Transitions.  More recently, we had a chance to speak with Bil Cornelius from Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX.

Bil is a phenomenal guy with a heart for reaching people.  He may have been one of the most candid pastor’s we have even meet with.  He had so many great things to say that I thought I would write them down and post them here.  This will serve mainly as my notes from the meeting for future reference, but I hope they inspire you too.

• If you will slow down your pace and walk with Jesus, He will speed up your ministry.
• People (including non-Christians) are looking for spiritual leadership.
• Failures when you are young do more to prepare you for the future than a lot of other things.
• When it comes to life, unchurched people are more honest…they don’t play any “church” games.
• When planting a church, you must have the right pastor, the right people and the right community.  Relay on God for direction in each one of those areas.
• Your church won’t grow unless you are uncomfortable…unless you have to display FAITH in God in something…start getting uncomfortable
• What would take faith to do…that’s what you need to be doing.
• If you want to grow as a leader, you are going to have to listen to people who are younger than you…people you think know less than you.  It will be like eating watermelon…you eat the good stuff and spit out the seeds.
• When you ask for blessing, know that persecution is going to come with that blessing
• New levels (of church growth) = New devils (that apparently originated from the Bishop).
• Inspiration doesn’t come during perspiration…you have to have some down-time as a leader
• Miracle Middle = the uncomfortable gap between who you are now and who God has called you to be.  It is a difficult place to be, but will be the most rewarding as you make progress through it.
• Any small gap in trust with anyone will eventually turn into a gaping hole.
• Loyalty is the most important commodity on any church staff…in larger churches, splits happen when the staff is not unified.
• If you are anointed by God to do something, you can do it for less…example – Tiger Woods could beat Bil (not me) at golf with a stick because he has been “anointed” to play golf.  Do what God has anointed you to do!
• You can learn more through betrayals than church conferences.
• Empower the people of your church to be the “church growth experts.”  Equip them to win people to the Kingdom.

If you ever have the opportunity to meet with a church leader who is “doing it right,” you must take full-advantage of that opportunity.  If you are wondering why you haven’t had the opportunity, it may be because you haven’t asked…I have found that some of these guys are more willing to sit and talk than you may think.