QUOTES

“The church cannot be defended simply as a vehicle for getting people closer to God; it is a place of God” – William Willimon

“Too often we are led to believe that if we had the right forms we’d have the power. Ministry was never intended to be managed that way. The Spirit is poised to empower biblical functions.” – Joseph Stowell, Shepherding the Church

“God has a university. It’s a small school. Few enroll; even fewer graduate. Very, very few indeed. God has this school because he does not have broken men and women. Instead, he has several other types of people. He has people who claim to have God’s authority…and don’t-people who claim to be broken… and aren’t. And people who do have God’s authority, but who are mad and unbroken. And he has, regretfully, a great mixture of everything in between. All of these he has in abundance, but broken men and women, hardly at all.” – Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings

“…great leaders gain authority by giving it away.” – John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

“A clean conscience and a pure heart are never possible on the basis of religious behaviors…they are already ours because of Jesus.” – David Johnson/Jeff Van Vonderen, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse

“The church is not what we organize but what God gives, not the people we want to be with but the people God gives us to be with” – Eugene Peterson