Arthur C. Brooks: Real Happiness
A lot of Christians feel guilty about enjoying their life because they think that enjoyment and pleasure are the same thing, and they’re not.
A lot of Christians feel guilty about enjoying their life because they think that enjoyment and pleasure are the same thing, and they’re not.
Resilience is not that you never get dysregulated or you never get disoriented or you never get discouraged. Resilience means that even when you get disrupted or discouraged, there is an ability, by God’s grace, to recover.
“The more central the gospel becomes in your ministry, the more you can fly above all of that division because the gospel transcends it.” -Pastor David Uth
When the church taps into the mission and the heart of God, she gets mobilized, she can get revived. We can see growth and new initiative.
“Churches are called to make their cities better. The best way to do that is to genuinely and authentically love our neighbors. If there are needs in our community, we want to get involved.” - Pastor Mike Housholder
"When a pastor chooses to live an unconfessed life, they put themselves in far greater danger than when being vulnerable." -Jamin Goggin
There's something about a unifying vision that is greater than our preferences, that is focused on serving our community, that I think has led to a strong sense of connectivity that's allowed our church to grow and to impact people right here where we live.
Every leader needs to have an apprentice. Even the lead pastor, as you're thinking about what's next, you need to have an apprentice so you can put that person in that role and you can commission them to go.
When I go to a great restaurant and it’s really good, no one ever has to tell me, “Could you let other people know?” I cannot wait to tell other people, first of all, that I've been, and second of all, how good the food is. I think we have lived our Christian lives on the periphery of God's grace and goodness and favor for so long that we don't know how good the food is for ourselves.
There are just so many things that are compelling about the triune God and the way that triune God has enacted redemption for us and continues to sanctify us after we follow him. We just have to pull the contextualization out for our young people so they can see it on their terms.