Am I smoking what I’m selling? John Ortberg says we should be.
Am I smoking what I’m selling
Posted Thursday, 12 November 2009 by johnortbergI talked not long ago to a man who spends his life working with churches on stewardship. i asked him what the number one characteristic of generous churches is, and the rapidity of his answer startled me: “They have generous senior pastors.” He didn’t cite programs or teaching or systems. Just a person.
It struck me how deeply this is true of the whole area of spiritual formation. Sometimes a person will want to become a ’spiritual formation champion’ in a church. They may know a fair amount about techniques like lectio devina, they may read good writers and be able to articulate substantial ideas. But the biggest question remains: When people look at this person, do they say ‘I want to be like him or her?’When it comes to transformation, the single most helpful gift we offer is the life we lead ourselves. If I’m leading the wrong life, if I’m becoming the wrong person, no amount of information or teaching skill can speak louder than the volume of my actual life. The foundational question around transformation is always the ancient Biblical question (found in an obscure variant text):
Am I smoking what I’m selling?
Ten Things I Believe About Your Ministry! – Perry Noble
November :: 2009 :: Perry Noble | Leadership, Vision & Creativity
Ten Things I Believe About Your Ministry! November 23, 2009
#1 – God’s heart is not for your to fail and/or drop out!
#2 – God’s plans for your life/ministry are greater than yours! (I Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20, Isaiah 49:6) SEEK HIM!!!
#3 – God will surround you with the right people in order to make His vision become a reality. (Proverbs 15:22)
#4 – God will reveal what He wants in His time…and it will be amazing! (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
#5 – God cares more about your character than He does your churches numerical growth. (II Chronicles 16:9)
#6 – The tomb is empty…and He didn’t mean for THAT to lead to boring, lifeless church services.
#7 – We should fear becoming IMPOTENT (having the equipment but lacking the passion to perform, via Bishop TD Jakes) way more than we fear becoming IRRELEVANT.
#8 – Success needs to be viewed through the lenses of obedience and not through comparing yourself to another ministry.
#9 – If what you are doing doesn’t cause you to say “oh crap” internally…then there probably isn’t any desperation for God…which means He will allow you to do ministry without Him.
#10 – If everybody likes you then you’ve spent way too much time kissing rear ends instead of being faithful to who God has called you to be and what He has called you to do!
We can’t live apprehensively! – Justin Boyd
He might have just gotten an 18 on his ACT, but this stuff is profound from my boy Justin Boyd.
A BOYd’s LIFE: WE CAN’T LIVE APPREHENSIVELY
WE CAN’T LIVE APPREHENSIVELY
Pursuing Jesus requires instinctive and intuitive actions and reactions. We don’t have time to be apprehensive when it comes to chasing Jesus dreams, nor does God want us to hesitate when he has called us to encounter the unknown. The reality is we are taught our whole lives to be careful and cautious in making decisions that may have a major impact on our lives. Jesus gave no time for logical thinking when he called people to uncomfortably engage his teaching and embrace his lifestyle.
We should trust our instinctive and intuitive jabs relying that the Spirit’s logic trumps our finite reasoning any time. Let’s not allow the uncharted and unexamined exclude us from the destination God may have for the illogical pursuers…