I recently read an article in a special issue of Outreach magazine, which inspired me. The title of the article was What I've Learned so Far by Lindy Lowry. Pastors from the top 100 fasting growing churches in America shared their wisdom, wonder and hard-knock lessons of ministry, leadership and life. I am not gleaning from their expertise because they have a whole bunch of people who come to their buildings on Sunday morning but because of the content of what they have said in this article, which inspires me as I work towards planting a new church in Brentwood, CA that I and others hope will transform lives in that community. I am going to give you my favorite quotes from these pastors taken from the article.
Ed Young, senior pastor of Fellowship Church, Grapevine, TX
"The churches doing the real stuff are the ones that are keeping evangelism white hot! It's so easy for all of us to swap sheep."
"Information without application is an abomination. We can know all this stuff about leadership, growth and evangelism, but until we apply it, that knowledge doesn't mean anything."
Chris Hodges, senior pastor of Church of the Highlands, Birmingham, AL
"There is no substitute for the presence of God. He can do more in one second of His manifest presence than all of my own efforts."
"I've learned that skill and anointing will give you ministry opportunities, but only integrity and humility will sustain those opportunities."
Wayne Cordeiro, senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, Honolulu, HI
"You never measure the size of your church by how many are inside; you measure it by how many are still outside."
Brad Powell, senior pastor of Northridge Church, Plymouth, MI
"Only God can build a church. I learned this the hard way. I tried to build Northridge on the passion and energy of my personality. They hated my personality. After two years of very difficult ministry and continued decline, I finally came to the end of myself. When I began fully leaning on Him, the church began moving forward."
Jon Weece, senior minister of Southland Christian Church, Lexington, KY
"We understand that generosity is not measured by how much we give to others but by how much we keep for ourselves."
Bob Merritt, senior pastor of Eagle Brook Church, Hugo, MN
"Outreach takes more effort than anything else in ministry. It's the first thing that tends to get lost."
Ray Johnston, senior pastor of Bayside Covenant Church, Roseville, CA
"Authentic worship and authentic Bible teaching are unbelievably attractive to people, and you can grow and reach people at the same time, without watering anything down."
"The average church stops caring about outsiders after nine years and never recovers from it."