Quotes

The Deadly 8 Words

March 14, 2013 by Robbie in Church, Church Growth, Quotes | 2 Comments

But we’ve never done it that way before!

Those words will absolutely spank your ministry and your churches. I am not talking just some ordinary slap on the knee I am talking a go outside and get a branch from the tree type of spanking. I am reading a book by Neil Cole called Church 3.0 that is phenomenal. I am just in chapter three but already Neil is reshaping how I view church which is synergistic with some conversations I have had with people in the past 8 months. Read this quote from his book:

For some reason, the church is always the slowest to upgrade. Our conservative religious nature, which borders on superstition, tends to make everything sacred (especially things that are not meant to be so) and therefore untouchable. The result is that the church is often left behind, and soon irrelevant. When a ministry is blessed by God, we consider it His endorsement of the method. Long after the method is out of sync with culture and out of step with any good results, we still consider it God ’s way and keep it going—often for decades or even centuries. Making changes in the church is often considered heretical and blasphemous. The sound of the eight lethal words of church management still echo in the boardrooms of the Western churches: “But we’ve never done it that way before.”

Cole, Neil (2010-01-22). Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) (p. 4). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.

So the question I have for you is this: What are you holding onto in your ministry that God is no longer blessing? What are some things in your ministry that need upgrade?

But we’ve never done it that way before?

Which is why your church is not multiplying.

Think about those 8 words and think about what needs changing.

_________________________

Photo Credits: Jon Jordan on Creative Commons

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, quotes

June 1, 2012 by Robbie in Narrative Theology, Quotes, the Father, Trinity, Trust | Leave a comment

God has objective existence independent of and apart from any notions which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping heart does not create its Object. It finds Him here when it wakes from its moral slumber in the morning of its regeneration.

Tozer, A. W. (Aiden Wilson) (2011-03-24). The Pursuit of God (pp. 38-39). . Kindle Edition.

Church?

October 18, 2011 by Robbie in Church, Fellowship, Quotes | 2 Comments

“Despite what most people think, the ‘church’ is more than just bricks and mortar.  It’s always been, and always will be, a fellowship of people that goes far beyond the walls of any building, denomination or meeting space.  It’s a community of people who have found healthy patterns of human relating and new standards for how to treat one another, serve one another, and even forgive one another that run counter to the world.”  Gabe Lyons, The New Christians, p. 161.

Messy Spirituality Quote

September 21, 2011 by Robbie in Discipleship, Faithfulness, Holy Spirit (Pneumatology), Incarnation, Jesus, Past Sins, Power of God, Quotes, Spiritual Formation, the Father | 1 Comment

“Messy Spirituality is the scandalous assertion that following Christ is anything but tidy and neat, balanced and orderly.  Far from it.  Spirituality is complex, complicated, and perplexing-the disorderly, sloppy, chaotic look of authentic faith in the real world.  Spirituality is anything but a straight line; it is a mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride full of unexpected turns, surprise bumps, and bone-shattering crashes.  In other words, messy spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life ruined by a Jesus who will love us right into his arms.”

Mike Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality, p. 27.

Birth to Death – Every Man’s Journey

July 27, 2011 by Robbie in Job, Old Testament Theology, Quotes | 2 Comments

“The journey of every human being begins in the mother’s womb, with life defined not by possessions but by intimate dependence on the one who gives life itself.  It ends in the womb of the grave, where one is stripped of possessions and intimately reconnected with ‘mother earth’.  There are no exceptions; every life must move between these two boundaries.”

Samuel E. Balatine, Job, Smyth & Helwys Series (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys: 2006): 57.

Seeing us as God see us…

June 27, 2011 by Robbie in Quotes, Youth Ministry | Leave a comment

“I’m convinced that if we human beings all saw ourselves as God sees us, the world would be radically different.”  Jeanne Stevens, Soul School, p. 23.

Divine Essence and Creation

June 1, 2011 by Robbie in Love, Power of God, Quotes, Theology, Trinity | Leave a comment

“The doctrine of the Trinity likewise provides the foundation for understanding this dimension of the act of creation.  As we have seen, God’s essence is love.  The dynamic of the Trinity is the love reciprocated between the Father and the Son, which is the Holy Spirit.  This central dimension of the essence of God – Trinitarian love – makes creation possible.  The act of creation is the outflowing of the eternal love relationship within the triune God.  The world exists because out of the overflow of his own character, which is love, the eternal God establishes an external counterpart, creation.  Just as it is created in accordance with the very essence of God – love – this counterpart exists to be both the recipient of and the mirror of the divine love.”[1]

[1] Stanley J. Grenz, Theology for the Community of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994): 101.

Quote that has bothered me…

January 23, 2011 by Robbie in Prayer, Quotes | 5 Comments

I was listening to a LifeChurch TV podcast by Craig Groeschel and he said something that has bothered me for 5 days now…

“Good intentions are not God intentions.”

I don’t know what to do with that but pray.  It is not, “Am I doing the right thing?” it is “Am I doing the God-thing.”

Are you a quitter?

November 22, 2010 by Robbie in Discipleship, Eschatology, Faithfulness, Quotes | Leave a comment

Last night I picked up a book that was beside my bed that I have wanted to read for some time and it A Resilient Life by Gordon MacDonald.  MacDonald seeks to give some principles to help Christians “finish what they start, persevere in adversity and push themselves to their potential.”  In chapter one he states that resilient people believe that quitting is not an option.  MacDonald discusses his mother and how she started a lot of good things but did not finish them.  After reflecting about his mother and his own life he made this statement which still is bothering me this morning:

Now, spurred on by that word [quitter - RM] a lot of things became clear to me-about my mother and about myself.  Finishing things was a challenge for both of us.  It marked our character.  The best way I could put it was this: I had a quitter’s gene in me.  (Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, p. 2)

Quitter’s gene?  Thinking about that this morning I look at my own life and ministry and have seen the very same thing.  Here is a list of things I have quit along the way:

  • writing a book…
  • staying on a diet…
  • staying on the baseball team…
  • 2010 – Living With and Without (see here)
  • Parental Advisory Team – parent group that discussed matters in the youth group
  • P.E.T.S. – service team we did a few years ago
  • family devotionals…
  • reading the bible in 90 days

Some of this is a bit trivial while others is a bit embarrassing.  What about you?  do you have the quitter’s gene?  Do you start things with the intention of finishing them but find yourself quitting  before it is ever completed?  Why do you do that?  Why can’t you finish what you start?

For the Christian there are serious implications for not developing characteristics to finishing strong.  Take Caleb for example in Joshua 14 and look at his resilience:

Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’ “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” (Josh. 14:6-12)

Caleb is 85 years old when he says “I am still as strong today…” and that takes some serious spunk.  That is resilience and Caleb was the type of person who if you wanted to get something done he would do it and finish it.  May you be honest about your spiritual life and confess that you are a quitter and be able to trust in God to help you to finish things that you start.  May you be diligent, be steadfast and be empowered.

Quote on Parenting

November 17, 2010 by Robbie in Encouragment..., Family, Parenting, Quotes | Leave a comment

Thought you could chew on this one for a while…hang in there parents!!!

When a parent refused to accept his child’s defiant challenge, something changes in their relationship.  The youngster begins to look at his mother and father with disrespect; they are unworthy of her allegiance.  More important, she wonders why they would let her do such harmful things if they really loved her.  The ultimate paradox of childhood is that boys and girls want to be led by their parents but insist that their mothers and fathers earn the right to lead them.”  James Dobson, The New Strong-Willed Child, 2004, p. 5.

Some implications I imagine…

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