The Worst Possible Scenario

"The worst possible scenario is for our churches to be supposedly 'growing' but with 'members' who have no deep longing to be delivered from the power or sin."

- Jim Cymbala

Source: Cymbala, Jim. The Church God Blesses. Zondervan, 2002: p. 99.

Passionately Committed

"The greatest motivation we could ever find for being passionately committed to the Church is that Jesus is passionately committed to the Church."

- Joshua Harris

Source: Harris, Joshua. Stop Dating the Church! Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2004. Print. 31

Teach the Truth of Scripture!

"Yet when they [pastors and ministers] fail to preach the Scriptures, they abandon their authority. No longer do they confront their hearers with a word from God. That is why most modern preaching evokes little more than a wide yawn. God is not in it."

- Haddon W. Robinson
 Source: Robinson, Haddon W. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Baker. Grand Rapids, MI. 2001. 82.

Leadership Vehicle

"The church is the vehicle God has chosen to use to raise up leaders for his work in the world. Over the past centuries, we have allowed the church to move to the sidelines, and we are now lamenting the results. Churches all over the world suffer from a serious leadership vacuum. Participating in the process of building churches that build leaders is potentially the most fruitful and fulfilling work you will ever do."

- Jeff Jones

Source: Forman, R. Jones, J. Miller, B.The Leadership Baton: An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders in Your Church. Zondervan. Grand Rapids, MI. 2004. 40.

Visionary Truth

"Our most important vision system is not our physical eyes. We can be physically blind and live quite well. But when we are spiritually blind, we cannot live as God intended. That is why so many Old Testament prophecies say that the Messiah would come to open blind eyes. That is why he is called the Light. Physically blind people are always aware of their deficit and spend much of their lives learning to live with its limitations. But the Bible says that we can be spiritually blind and yet think that we see quite well. The reality of spiritual blindness has important implications for the Christian. If I am going to see myself clearly, I need to hold up the mirror of God's Word in front of me to open my eyes."

- Paul David Tripp

Source: Tripp, Paul David. Instruments In the Redeemer's Hands: People In Need of Change Helping People In Need of Change. P&R Publishing. Phillipsburg, PA. 2002. 54.

Don't Be Emergent, Be Evangelical.

"Almost everyone within the [Emergent Church] movement has an emphasis on feelings and affections over against linear thought and rationality; on experience over against truth; on inclusion over against exclusion; on participation over against individualism and the heroic loner. New forms of worship or alterations in our vocabulary or other changes involved suggest there is an unorthodoxy in winning postmoderns to Christ. What is crucial is the gospel, expressed clearly in the preaching of the world and the lives of those in the church, communicated lovingly and patiently in worship and witness, and reflected in the lives of disciples who are growing in Christ-likeness. Churches should be aware of what is happening in the culture, how those around them are thinking, and how best to communicate to them. They should consider if they are making the gospel clear and intelligible, and if their worship and life together honor Christ."

- John Hammett

Source: Hammett, John S. Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology. Kregel Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2005. 330-331.