“You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits”
– Michael Phelps
Category Archives: Quotes
The Church As Movement
JR Woodward’s and Dan White Jr.’s book The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-Incarnational Communities is well worth reading for church planters or leaders pursuing missional, incarnational movement. Great info and ideas on starting and sustaining missional communities. Also, goes into great detail on the APEST modes of church leadership – Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers. Also, great information on the spiritual maturity as it relates to missional communities and deep relationships around discipleship. Would be great for a core group or launch team utilizing missional communities as a strategy to go through. Would also be good for a church wanting to get back to a missional, community driven focus to go through. Want be shelving this one anytime soon. Good tool to keep handy as we look to make disciples and catalyze a movement. Lots of good resources, worksheets, etc. at churchasmovement.com.
Wore through a highlighter reading this book, but here’s a few of my favorite highlights:
- Jesus’ main message centered on the kingdom of God and his primary way of creating movement was confiding in the three, training the Twelve and mobilizing the seventy.
- We must die to our self, our infatuation with speed and size, and devote ourselves to the work of making disciples, training the few.
- Movement is about developing structures and systems that catapult people into mission.
- the church as movement values shared leadership, sustainability and faithfulness, leaving fruitfulness to God.
- the church as movement focuses on the “small” grassroots work of developing a discipleship core that builds a missional community together.
- The church is not the church if it is not moving deeper into the brokenness of our world.
- The key element to the spontaneous expansion of the church is simplicity.
- Movement requires reproducibility. What we are multiplying should be reproducible by just about everyone.
- We must remember that faithfulness is our part, and fruitfulness is God’s. He can choose to move as slow or fast as he desires.
- Skill is not the first thing that qualifies leaders in the missional church; character is.
- Personality is great, but a sustainable movement is not built on it. Movements are built on character.
- Conflict in relating with others in community often hints at things we haven’t paid attention to in our own soul.
- We discover much about ourselves as we move outward on mission. Our fears, our insecurities, our hypocrisies, our apathies and our chaos is revealed as we attempt to live a missional life.
- Discipleship is a move toward accountability and vulnerability to learn and practice the way of Jesus on mission.
- Discipleship involves heart , mind and body learning, not just the transfer of information and beliefs.
- Discipleship cannot be consumed; we must participate in it.
- Mission is much more than a weekend project; it is an incarnational pursuit to be faithfully present to God’s in-breaking kingdom in the ordinariness of life.
- the church is not a building, a weekly gathering or a program, but a people God has called out of the world and sent back into the world to redeem and renew the world.
- This is the essence of the church: a people who find their identity in the arms of God (communion), rallied around tables welcoming each other (community) and sent out into the world with serving hands (co-mission).
- The church cannot storm the gates of hell by gathering around consumer needs. A shared life and the shared story that Jesus is King are its rallying points.
Co-operation, Commitment, Communion, Commission
Prayer is co-operation with God. It is the purest exercise of the faculties God has given us—an exercise that links these faculties with the Maker to work out the intentions He had in mind in their creation. Prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God…
Prayer is commitment. We don’t merely co-operate with God with certain things held back within… We, the total person, co-operate. This means that co-operation equals commitment. Prayer means that the total you is praying… Your whole being reaches out to God, and God … reaches down to you…
Prayer is communion. Prayer is a means, but often it is an end in itself… There are times when your own wants and the needs of others drop away and you want just to look on His face and tell Him how much you love Him…
Prayer is commission. Out of the quietness with God, power is generated that turns the spiritual machinery of the world. When you pray, you begin to feel the sense of being sent, that the divine compulsion is upon you.
… E. Stanley Jones in Growing Spiritually. Via CQOTD
Developing and Deploying Leaders for the Glory of God
Didn’t get to attend the Pipeline Conference last year, but have wore out a highlighter going through the feature book by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck called Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development. The thesis of the book is that the church should be a great catalyst of developing leaders in every sphere of life. Geiger and Peck lay out the theological case for leadership development in the church and also make practical steps to get started very accessible for churches of every size. Exposed is our lack of true leadership development in the church and our dependence on a professional class instead of God’s power through God’s people with clergy being equippers. Must read for church planters who must multiply leaders and set a course for maximum impact for years to come. Here are ten of my favorite quotes from Designed to Lead:
- The Church is uniquely set apart to develop and deploy leaders for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.
- The full extent of discipleship is the development of disciples who are able to lead and develop others, not merely people who gather for worship once a week.
- True leaders are servants who die to themselves so others may flourish.
- The Christian life is not about trying daily, but dying daily.
- The Church has been designed to possess a holy rhythm of gathering people to scatter that more may be gathered.
- It is not first the work of our hands that pleases the Lord, but the condition of our hearts.
- The Church is not a Christian club, weekly group counseling session, or weekend pick-me-up. Your local church is the beautiful bridge of King Jesus!
- People will follow your example before they follow your vision.
- Church leaders must confidently invite people to serve, knowing that the opportunities to serve provide moments where development occurs.
- Our churches don’t need spiritual travel agents who promote journeys they don’t take. We need tour guides who set a wise direction, take the journey with the people, and live all that they are inviting the people to live.
A few more posts coming from this book in coming weeks. More info and some resources on the book at DesignedtoLead.com. Also, check out and follow Eric Geiger’s Blog for other great leadership resources.
Family Devotions: Yes! They ARE Listening!
Good encouragement here from Tony Evans, for when the Family Devotion just seems like a lot of commotion. Parents, keep showing up!
There were times when our four kids would be acting up around the table while I was trying to lead devotions, and it would irritate me. They would be talking out of turn, or one would be pouting. It just seemed like a lot of commotion rather than devotion! I admit there were even times when I called it quits and told everyone to go to their rooms because they weren’t paying attention or they were being disrespectful. But more times than not, I stuck it out, and then, at a later point, I would be surprised how one child or another would bring up something I thought for sure no one had heard during the devotions at the table simply due to the noise. They were listening— even when it didn’t look like they were listening. Those were the moments God used to remind me to hang in there when I would want to walk away from the table early and call it a night. I would remember that it was my responsibility to train these children to the best of my ability— imperfectly but consistently. I was called to show up and do my part, leaving the hard work of getting the truth into their hearts to God.
Excerpted from Raising Kingdom Kids by Tony Evans
No Limits
Glorious Contradictions #devo #Tozer
“God has revealed so many glorious contradictions in the lives and conduct of genuine Christian believers…”
- The Christian is dead and yet he lives forever.
- The Christian saves his own life by losing it, and he is in danger of losing it by trying to save it.
- the Christian is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strongest.
- The Christian is in least danger when he is fearful and trusting God and in the most danger when he feels the most self-confident.
- The Christian actually has the most when he is giving away the most
Lord, help me be a glorious contradiction to this world.
http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=235
Small is Big. Slow is Fast. And #Multiplication Always Wins.
In the book Small is Big Slow is Fast: Living and Leading Your Family and Community on God’s Mission, Ceasar Kalinowski paints a picture of the kingdom of God that makes you believe anybody can be a part of expanding it. That’s the belief we need to go viral in the church today if we’re going to see a movement of evangelism & discipleship in North America, so I want to highly recommend this book to you. The book challenges popular notions that have slowed multiplication including church has to be made up of big crowds & buildings to be real, discipleship should be scheduled in the midst of the busyness of everyday life, & only a few highly trained people should develop the skills to lead churches. Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:
- A disciple is someone who has reoriented his or her life around another to become, in essence, who that person is.
- We don’t live on mission because we are supposed to. It is our birthright. We get to do this.
- We will never lead another group of friends or anyone else father and deeper into discipleship and mission than our own family.
- If we are not careful, we can end up being the nicest, friendliest people in the neighborhood but fail to lead anyone one step closer to walking in the ways of Jesus.
- multiplication doesn’t just happen accidentally. Everything we do must be intentionally simple, scalable, and reproducible.
- the secret to increasingly living our lives together on God’s mission is to move away from seeing discipleship as something that needs to be tacked onto an already busy schedule, toward seeing all the normal stuff of life as full of opportunity for discipleship and growth in the gospel.
- This is not a call to life plus mission, rather, it is a call to life on mission.
- When looking to develop leaders, we initially have to identify who wants to lead. We do this by looking at who is ready first to be a follower.
- Some days are packed with very obvious kingdom activity, while others feel like nothing special… until you look back.
- Not everything happens as quickly as or in the way we want it to. People drop off the radar and out of community. This is messy stuff! On this journey, you must trust that God is filling your lives with opportunities for discipleship and kingdom expansion every day. Some you will notice; others you may not.
- Do we need to have larger gatherings… No. But you get to.
- Our identity is found in Christ, not the frequency of size of our gatherings.
- The mission of the church is discipleship, not creating church services.
The book also includes a very helpful chapter outlining what life on mission may look like in the typical week & a great appendix outlining the first 3 years or so of steps to launching a missional community movement, as well as a great list of tools & resources for multiplication of groups. Great resource for anyone looking to simply multiply & bear fruit for God’s kingdom.
“It’s not what you do today, but what you do everyday that makes a difference” #newyears
Heard this a few years ago & it stuck with me. We are shaped & changed by those things we do over & over again. Thinking today about what I want to do everyday in 2015.
- Kiss my wife.
- Make my kids laugh.
- Read the Bible. (Read along with me here).
- Journal.
- Read. (One chapter per day as a goal. Should read 20 books per year).
- Exercise. (long shot)
- What if I shared the Gospel everyday?
- What if I encouraged someone, everyday?
- What if I gave of myself generously, everyday?
What are those things worth doing everyday? Today’s a great day to get started.
Not Life PLUS Mission, Life ON Mission
the secret to increasingly living our lives together on God’s mission is to move away from seeing discipleship as something that needs to be tacked onto an already busy schedule, toward seeing all of the normal stuff of life as full of opportunity for discipleship and growth in the gospel.
This is not a call to life plus mission; rather, it is a call to life on mission.
If life on mission, a life of discipleship, is too hard, or seems impossible with your schedule… Choose a different rhythm.
Ceasar Kalinowski, in Small is Big Slow is Fast: Living and Leading Your Family and Community on God’s MissionLoving this book!
Worth Reading: Missional Essentials
This past summer I worked through a 12 lesson study by Brad Brisco & Lance Ford called Missional Essentials. This is a great primer for discovering life on mission right where you are and understanding basic missiology. It would be great for small groups, discipleship groups, or personal use. Deals with issues like the nature of God & the church, consumerism & mission, rest & time management, biblical hospitality, & more. Check it out here:
A few of my favorite quotes:
- in the church, we have focused almost exclusively on the idea of sending rather than being sent. We think primarily of sending and supporting missionaries in faraway places rather than seeing ourselves, both individually and collectively as being sent.
- We should be sending people in the church out among people of the world rather than attempting to attract people of the world in among the people of the church.
- We in the church often wrongly assume that the primary activity of God is in the church, rather than recognizing that God’s primary activity is in the world, and the church is God’s instrument sent into the world to participate in his redemptive mission.
- Instead of thinking of the church as an entity that simply sends missionaries, we should instead view the church as the missionary.
- God has sent you on assignment as a participant in his mission to the world. Your locale is no accident.
- Hospitality involves living life in a way that places a higher value on relationships and community than on consumption and productivity.
- Our families and our homes should be places where people experience a foretaste of heaven.
- LIGHT: Listen to the Holy Spirit, Invite others to share a meal, Give a Blessing, Hear from the Gospels, Take Inventory of the day.
Lane Corley 