Missional with a Capital “M” – Part 2

It is Thursday morning. Origins and Ethos are over. My brain and my spirit are far from over. I have so much to process and decide how it fits into our faith community that the task could seem daunting if I were of that ilk. But those who know me, know I have a hard time visiting, much less living there.

I took notes at this conference unlike I have ever at any conference in the past. I am not really sure why, but I did. Maybe it was a God thing. I do like it when those happen.

In any event, what I did in addition to the “normal note taking” was to just write down quote after quote that spoke to me and made something really live. I gave some on the previous post. Well, for the next day or so I will give some more. If I put them all out here now, it would be like drinking from a fire hydrant, which is what I have been doing for three days.

Do not look for a particular order, I intentionally mixed them up. Why? Because I am just that way. I did start and end with two that really spoke to me.

“If you change what people believe, you are an apologist. If you change what they care about you are an apostle.” - Erwin

“You know what you care about by what you DO.” - Erwin

“Fellowship is what we do with each other to reach the world.” – Eric

“God is not trying to catch up to us. He slows down for us.” – David

“Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the absence of self.” – Erwin

Alex on Relevance:

“The first question is not, are we relevant to culture? It is are we relevant to Jesus Christ and who he is and his mission to the world?”

“The second question is, are we relevant to the future? If we build a church that we like but our kids hate in ten years, we have failed.”

“The third question is, are we relevant to the outsider? After all it is not about us. We have become very good at running programs but not so good at throwing parties.”

“God is not a fireplace to warm you, or a firework to entertain you, He is a consuming fire.” – David

“I am more committed to your character than I am to your talent.” – Erwin to Ricky

“We need to wake up to our dreams not wake up from our dreams.” – Ricky

“Sometimes a person’s talent is too heavy for their character.” – David & Eric

“It is not that teaching” the Bible in church “is not a good thing, it is just not enough.” – Erwin

“There are some things about God that will only be revealed in community.”

“We have a European, mostly Germanic, approach to communicating Scripture.” - Erwin

“When you love someone, you design and experience. It is not just about sharing the information.” – David

“We need to be serving others with others.” – Erwin, David, Ricky, Eric, Dana, etc. etc. etc. (Get the point?)

“If you are not living the word and serving, you are missing the point.” - Erwin

“Ingratitude is a toxin.” – Eric