Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.~ Michael  

Why tip someone for a job that I’m capable of doing myself? … I can deliver food. I can drive a taxi. I can and do cut my own hair. I did, however, tip my urologist because I am not able to pulverize my own kidney stones. ~ Dwight    

Can I have everyone’s attention, please? I just wanted to say that the women in this office are terrible. Especially the ones who wrote that stuff in the bathroom about Michael. Having a bathroom is a privilege. It’s a ladies’ room. And if you can’t act like ladies, then maybe you won’t have a bathroom. ~ Dwight 

The megalomaniac known as Alex Rodriguez speaks…

“I have two daughters. Well, I have one and one on the way in April. If I had a daughter, I’d want her to marry Andy Pettitte. The age difference might be a little awkward, but in this day and age, anything’s possible.”—Alex Rodriguez.

What’s wrong with this guy?

my friend and colleague tim sutherland sent me this remarkable quote by elie wiesel that really struck a chord for me deep within my soul…

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
~Ellie Wiesel (Nobel Prize for Peace, 1986)

it seriously begins to make me wonder and question the things that up until this point i have been completely indifferent about.

Americans now drink so much coffee that scientists have detected caffeine in many of the nations rivers, lakes and bays — and even in treated drinking water.  

The unchurched will not take notice or be impressed with great worship service for the simple reason they will never experience one because they are unchurched (they are outside the church - obvious?) But the unchurched are a part of a community and when a church is externally focused and sees itself as a servant of the community even the unchurched will hear about it from others, read about it in the news and see it for themselves. When a church is mobilizing it’s people to make a difference in the schools, local businesses and through partnership with other non-profits the unchurched will be thrilled to hear about a new site coming to their community. ~ Dave Ferguson

“The American church as a whole needs to move from selfish consumerism to unselfish contribution…. People in this culture are trained to think about me, me, me; I’ve got to do what’s best for me. Even when we go to church we have this consumer mentality.”
~ Rick Warren

(ht: out of ur)

Most churches make the mistake of selecting as leaders the confident, the competent, and the successful. But what you most need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus’ costly grace. The number one leaders in every church ought to be the people who repent the most fully without excuses, because you don’t need any now; the most easily without bitterness; the most publicly and the most joyfully. They know their standing isn’t based on their performance.

(Tim Keller, “What are the risks for evangelicals?” speaking at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2007)

(ht: Dash)

This is an interesting quote in light of Glenn and I’s conversation on leadership which can be found here, and some other thoughts on the subject here and here. (I still think we’re bickering over semantics.)

Some of have had bad church experiences that make us hate church. As a matter of fact the reason why we’re going to plant a church is because we hate the other type of churches and now we’re using them as a model for what not to be, therefore Christ is no longer in the model.
~ Eric Mason at the Reform & Resurge conference in 2006

i found this quote rather interesting, challenging and providing a great deal of wisdom and insight that should continually push me to ask: “where is Jesus in this?” my decision to go plant a church has never been reactionary to bad church experiences—in fact, my friend glenn would tell you my hope had always been to be a part of restoring fledgling churches—however, i do fear that my tendency would be to use those experiences to create a model of “what not to do”. i have learned a great many lessons in this realm… but the cautionary tale that runs through it all is to continually keep Jesus at the center while pushing forward at the speed of the Spirit—sometimes it’s a really fast ride and other times its painfully slow but one thing that’s constant: it’s a really hard balance to maintain.

from Risking Church:

We want ministry to be explained in terms that allow us to function as technicians, managers, or building contractors. We want a blueprint to build from and a list to check off as we accomplish each item.

I want something different.

I want the leadership of our church to be about creating an atmosphere, an environment where people can fall in love with Jesus. I don’t want technicians who can run a program. I want agents of love who will spread the life of the Spirit through the church.

This desire drives my engineers and accountants nuts! They want plans; I want an atmosphere, an environment, a community where people can live a new way. Fish can’t swim in the desert of programs. I want living water to create an ocean where beauty thrives.

(ht: darryl)

Robert Jenson, A Large Catechism (p.8):

In our fallen religion, we think salvation would be escape from temporal existence, from the threats and opportunities of an open future…. But the true God is the one coming as the future rushes upon us; he is life rather than release from life. His very identity is set by what he does in time.