Back down on in row five for the final session of C3. Bishop T.D. Jakes from The Potter’s House took the platform. Here are the highlights as I heard them…

  • The church gets its personality from the preacher.
  • “When I turned 40, my Bible shrunk.”
  • “Somebody say, ‘Amen.’”
  • The Bishop is sporting a hip sweatshirt and jeans this morning.
  • I think this is the largest crowd of the conference so far.
  • “Success to me is helping you.”
  • He just waved to everyone in the balcony. I should have stayed in the balcony.
  • I need someone at the piano playing while I speak.
  • Even the closest disciples didn’t understand everything Jesus was doing and saying.
  • “I would tell Obama and Clinton and all of them if you want lessons on politics, get with church folks.”
  • “You haven’t begun to preach until you’re controversial.”
  • “The cost of leadership is conflict.”
  • “If you aren’t experiencing conflict, you’re not a leader–you’re a follower.”
  • “People generally admire their leaders best when they are dead.”
  • We’re so smart. We know everything God can do and can’t do. “I need to sell all my stuff here, because I know none of my stuff is going to sell in Heaven.”
  • “We have the audacity to teach Jesus about Jesus.”
  • “How could they not know Jesus?”
  • “You don’t know as much as you think you do.”
  • “Don’t leave me Lord.”
  • “Could it be possible that God is bigger than your past experiences? He’s bigger than our circumstances and our situations.”
  • “He’s bigger than you think he is.” (Talking about God, not the guy sitting on the front row that’s huge.)
  • “When you’ve got the might, you choose the menu.”
  • “He took it. He blessed it. He broke it. And gave it to them.” That same pattern is repeated throughout Scripture.
  • The Bishop is modeling an important communications tactic: Repeat the important stuff over and over again. Say it one way, then say it again another way.
  • “God breaks you because he loves you. It proves you’re his son and not a bastard.”
  • “The breaking stage is the blessing stage.”
  • The towel just came out. It’s black. And, it matches the hip sweatshirt.
  • We shouldn’t give leadership to people who have never been broken.
  • “It’s not me, but it’s Christ in me that’s given me another chance.”
  • The piano player is playing again, and people are standing and clapping in the middle of the message.
  • “Leadership is really spelled loneliness.”
  • Missed some good notes while we were standing.
  • “The best is yet to come.”