Trust..... Bust

"There is no respect between the souls of two individuals if their minds can’t trust each other and there is no trust between them if their hearts can’t accept the truth of each other."
Anuj Somany

Free From Becoming A "Somebody"

"... what it would be like to be free, free from the need to be spectacular, free from my addiction to people's applause, free from the burden of being a somebody."

(Jim Palmer. Divine Nobodies : Shedding Religion To Find God - And the unlikely people who help you.)

Little Papacy Style Leadership

"During the last thirty-five years or so I have had the privilege of traveling to many countries and observing the church and it's leadership. As a result, it is my firm conviction that there is too much autocracy in the leaders of the Christian community, in defiance of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and not enough love and gentleness. Too many behave as if they believed not in the priesthood of all believers but in the papacy of all pastors." - John R. W. Stott

Strangling Brennan Manning For This One.

When I get to heaven, I am going to find this man, and I am going to hug him in my sure fishermans grip, so hard, Brennan will beg God for My mercy.

"Recent studies have shown that the average congregation on a Sunday morning can tolerate only fifteen seconds of silence before someone feels compelled to break it with an announcement, a song, a prophecy, or whatever.

Ironically, the church itself often impedes our efforts to reach inward and upward toward God.

As Parker Palmer notes: "Too often the church is an enemy of our solitude. Too often the church is one more agent in the vast social conspiracy of togetherness and noise aimed at distracting us from encountering ourselves. The church keeps us busy on this cause or that, this committee or that, trying to provide meaning through motion until we get “burned out” instead and withdraw from the church’s life. Even in its core act of worship the church provides little space for the silent and solitary inward journey to occur (sometimes filling the available space with noisy exhortations to take that very journey!)."

When the glory of the transcendent God is not addressed, our focus shifts to human behavior, the cultivation of virtues and the extirpation of vices, the qualities of discipleship, and so on. Personal responsibility replaces personal response to God, and we become engrossed in our efforts to grow in holiness. Our primary concern becomes our spiritual, intellectual, and emotional well-being. When other Christians ask us if we are happy, we automatically respond in the affirmative or brush them off with a benevolent smile even if we are close to tears."

(Brennan Manning. Ruthless Trust )

Bible Whisky

"Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results."

(Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird)

Divided Because Of Our Shepherds.

"The reason we don't see one flock today is because we have hundreds of thousands of would-be shepherds leading people to follow their mission, vision, or program. Jesus said we'd be one flock when we have one shepherd. As long as we have thousands of men and women claiming to lead on his behalf and ensuring loyalty to themselves and their program, we will find ourselves in conflict with God's goal to bring all things together in him."

- Wayne Jacobsen

Why Speak of Brokenness In The Past Tense?

"The worst thing we do as a church is that we like to talk about our brokenness in the past tense."

- Jamie The Very Worst Missionary

Religious Obligation Enforcers

"The undercurrent to a life of obligation is the belief that God is not endearing, and life in him is not engaging. Until we see that the life of Jesus is the most engaging invitation we’ve ever been extended, we won’t find our way into its joy. Knowing him will make all he wants for us an
irresistible reality."

- Wayne Jacobsen

Churching The Church Right Out Of Me.

“I guess the church just sort of churched the church out of me.” (youth)

(Josh Packard. Church Refugees)