Mark Batterson serves as the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. One church with many locations, NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the DC area. NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, Ebenezers Coffeehouse. Focused on reaching emerging generations, 73% of those attending NCC are single, twenty-somethings and 70% were unchurched or de-churched before attending. Mark is also the author of In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase.
- We tend to try to reach people the way we were reached.
- Movie screens are modern day stained glass. We use images to
communicate the Gospel. - We need a lot of different churches because there are a lot of different people.
- Jesus teaches us to live dangerously and to take risks.
- Truth is often found in the tension of opposites.
- Sometimes we need to get out of our context and check or motives.
- If you do the right thing for the wrong reason it’s not right.
- If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
- It’s ok to be a visionary to and have goals, but often we care more about
numbers than we do about people. - You can do ministry by faking it or out of the overflow of
what God is doing in your heart. - We can do what we do really well and forget why.
- We need to have contextual intelligence.
- We need to read the time, seize opportunities and incarnate the Gospel in a way
that people connect with. - Most pastors get “A’s” in Scriptural exegesis and “D’s” in cultural exegesis.
- When you fail at cultural exegesis the Gospel suffers.
- The future of the church depends on technology.
- Martin Luther said that printing was God’s highest and extremest form of grace
in spreading the Gospel. - With modern-day technology we have an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission.
- We need to leverage technology for God’s purposes.
- We need to stop doing ministry out of memory and start doing
ministry out of imagination. - The greatest danger ahead of us is people who were on the leading edge of what’s already happened.
- Our website is our front door to the world.
- There are ways of doing church no one has ever thought of yet.
