Best-selling author and founding pastor of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C., Mark Batterson spent time at Anderson University Jan. 13 talking about church planting, evangelism and worship to audiences of students and the newly formed Young Leaders Network, an Anderson University-sponsored forum for young ministers from Protestant and non-denominational churches to promote relationships and sharing of ideas in ministry.
From left: Michael Duduit, dean of the College of Christian Studies at Anderson University; Mark Batterson; and SCBC president Fred Stone.Batterson founded the National Community Church in a movie theater in Union Station in 1996 with a congregation of 19. The church has spread to locations (mostly movie theaters) throughout the District of Columbia and owns the largest coffee house in the city.
Batterson challenged students to pursue “God-sized” dreams and purposes in their lives. He urged students to embrace God’s calling in their lives and defeat the fear that would keep them from being effective. “The cure for the fear of failure is not success,” he told them. “It is failure, in small enough doses that you become immune to it.”
Batterson concluded his sermon to students by giving them what he called the Lion Chaser’s Manifesto: “Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death; set God-sized goals; pursue God-ordained passions; go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention.”
A question-and-answer session with the Young Leaders Network followed. The group then attended a luncheon with South Carolina Baptist Convention president Fred Stone, who spoke about the importance of young leaders taking the SCBC in a “God-inspired new direction” and his own passion for finding creative ways to grow churches in South Carolina.