After reading an advance copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan I was challenged and intrigued. Chan quickly became one of my favorite voices in ministry. His podcast from Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California is one of my favorites. You could say I am a Chan Fan. So when I had the chance to attended Catalyst West Coast and found out Chan was speaking I was ecstatic. His session was my most anticipated.

The Holy Spirit did not disappoint.

Notice I did not say Francis Chan did not disappoint. While Chan was a gifted communicator and passionate pastor, his talk was highlighted by the fact that it was all about the Holy Spirit. The more Chan spoke, the more you could sense the presence of God descending on the room. After Chan finished speaking the worship that ensued was absolutely incredible. Hearing Francis speak was of tremendous value to me because it reminded me that none of this (this = life) is about us. This simple idea is so refreshing in an era of history where we are becoming more and more narcissistic as a society.

Here are some notes I scribbled from Chan’s talk . . .

• While listening to Chan, I jotted down –> this is all about God, this is not about Francis.
• Chan made a statement along the lines of, “When I hear the people at my church talk more about Francis Chan than they do about the Holy Spirit it is a clear sign I am not doing my job.”
• “Front row next to the dugout . . . you know, that is how I roll.” – Chan talking about his trip to opening day of the Dodgers. He continued on with the example talking about how he only goes to games when it is ideal, just like most churchgoers who only go to church when it is perfect. He finished the story with this quote, “There are no ‘ifs’ only ‘even if’”.
• “The Book of Acts is quite possibly my least favorite book in the Bible, because you never read it and say, ‘Wow that is just like us.’”
• “The Holy Spirit is unstoppable, what bothers me is that our churches are so stoppable now.”
• “We have churches full of knowledgeable and scared believers.”
• “We have people who have been Christians for 10 years and they can not disciple someone!”
• “We need to pray for boldness. Paul is one of the boldest people in human history and he still prayed for boldness!”
• “We have to learn to love the gospel, not just the way it is delivered.”
• “Part of the reason why we have a scared churches is because they have scared pastors.”
• “John Piper bugs me.”
• “Marriage books often idolize marriage.”
• “When was the last time you were astonished by the boldness of someone?”
• “I remember being taught the difference between exegesis and isogesis in seminary.”
• Exegesis = let the scriptures lead out
• Isogesis = start with an idea and pull out verses
• “I was taught to teach exegetically but I was never taught to live exegetically.”
• “I am begging you to get alone with the scripture!”
• “If you had started with scripture would you do church the same way you do?”
• “If you read this book [holding his Bible up] cover to cover – what would you come up with?”
• “Do we have the boldness to make the changes.”
• Francis finished with a powerful story about his own daughter and her relationship with God, it was the one story from the conference that hit home the most. I was humbly reminded that we can not change the spiritual course of those around us, we can only set an example. It is the power of God moving through his spirit that changes people. “Unless your spirit comes I am helpless.” Chan confessed to God his desire to see change in his daughter.
• “Something happens only when the Holy Spirit is involved.”

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About Benji Zimmerman

Husband, Father, Troubleshooter, Dreamer, Linchpin, Reader, Runner, and Bicyclist.