Wayne Cordeiro

Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Center in Hawaii, started the Leadership Summit on Saturday morning with a talk entitled Dead Leader Running:

• You can teach what you know, but you reproduce what you are.
• Wayne told his own story of going full-speed for 22-years until it caught up with him.
• Some symptoms: Ministry was no longer fun; avoided people; decisions were tough; started thinking about retiring; thought people who brought up concerns were blaming me.
• He was 52-years old and a melt-down had begun. Soon, the physical symptoms began. His serotonin levels were depleted and he was replacing it with adrenaline.
• The road to success (as you perceive it) and the road to a nervous breakdown are sometimes the very same road.
• Sometimes the only time radical change happens is through radical pain.
• When you are in crisis, you are open to hearing God when you weren't before.
• In his crisis, Wayne checked himself into a monastery. No talking. No internet. No cell phone. No coffee. God changed his life during these 7-days.
• You have to know what fills and what drains your tank. What am I doing when I feel the most alive, the fullest? Who am I with?  Where am I doing this?
• Quote: "When I'm too busy, I increase my playtime."
• Sometimes you have to trick your mind so it's okay to take a day off.
• Schedule your rest time before everything else.
• Find a "lightning rod." Find someone you can dump on that will help you stay grounded. Otherwise you'll dump on anyone who is around.
• Wayne says the best thing he ever did for his church was to teach them to feed themselves, to read the Bible, and to use a Life Journal.
• Read the Bible and use the SOAP acrostic: S=Scripture (write it down); O=Observation; A=Application and P=Prayer.

As Wayne was talking, his story in many ways paralleled my own story from a couple of years ago. This session, for that reason, was very affirming.