Inside out...by Steven Furtick

I love reading blogs, especially from other pastors and writers. I learn immensly from their knowledge and experience and I love reading about what God is doing in their lives.
Well, one of my favorites is Steven Furtick, who is pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. He is a pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in NC and he is only in his late twenties.
This is what he had to say about ministry, personality and individuality, hope you enjoy:


Cut and Paste vs. Inside Out
January 24th, 2008

A recap of yesterday’s main idea:Effective and lasting ministries are not built by cutting and pasting…They are birthed from the inside out.
In the last 2 years I’ve gotten better at the fine art of filtering. We refer to this as eating the fish and leaving the bones (check out next week’s audio blog for more on this). The filtering process happens as I contextualize and internalize.
1. ContextualizationWhat worked there may not work here. 2. InternalizationWhat works for him may not work for me.
God has wired me in ways that are unique and intentional. And there are both tangible and intangible considerations, too numerous to list, that play into how God works in a given situation, or through a certain personality. Consider your circumstances. Size up your strengths. Learn from everybody. Then leverage the stuff that works in your world. Leave alone the stuff that doesn’t. I’ll give you an example in the area of preaching.I love to listen to my friend Perry preach. I try to keep up with a couple of his messages from every series (I do this with a lot of preachers…but I’m picking on Perry right now).A while back, I saw Perry do an illustration about tithing using Skittles.He had been inspired by a similar illustration that Ed Young Jr. did (I think), he tweaked it and made it his own, and now my wheels were turning:“How could I tweak that and make it my own? How can I make it work for us?”I ended up doing the illustration, and I used a wheelbarrow full of Runts instead of a glass full of Skittles. My interpretation fit my “I wish I was a black preacher” style very well.I was able to present the illustration authentically because it was now molded to my style, paraphrased according to my passion, etc.This happens in my preaching all the time. I’ll hear a guy like Mark Driscoll wailing on a really good point…but his application is custom made for Seattle-the city God has called him to reach. By the time I let God work the theme over in my heart for a few weeks, and I add my Southern twang Bible belt influence to it, I’m saying something that I truly own…even though it wasn’t original with me.(Nothing is original with you, either. Get over it.)

Inspiration without Internalization=Imitation
Inspiration + Internalization=Impact