Simple Church, by Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger, is one of the few books that I feel like I have to read every year.  It’s a classic in my mind.  And every time I read it, I’m reminded of the power of a focused, simple church. 

Anyway, I’m not going to review the book or anything like that for you, but I did want to share with you some of the insights I walked away with after my most recent reading.  So, here are just a few of the sentences I underlined and have been thinking about lately.

“Many of our churches have become cluttered. So cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple and powerful message of Christ. So cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.”  

“If you want the necessary to stand out, you have to get rid of the unnecessary.”

“New believers are often the most vocal missionaries a church has. They still know lost people. They have a fire in them that many older believers lose…New believers are the greatest resource your church has to influence the community.”

“People are attracted to unity. Unity is powerful. It is magnetic. It is a beautiful thing. And the impact is great.”

“Sometimes the best players are not the right players.”

“Change or die. Those are the choices.”

“Tragically, in most churches, the pain of change is greater than the pain of ineffectiveness.”

If you haven’t noticed, we have a new church website.  And it looks good!  Check it out here!

Billy sent me this video last week and I just had to share it with all of you.

It’s a parody of Carrie Underwood’s song, “Before He Cheats”, and although you may not enjoy it as much as I did (since I can relate to it more than most of you can), I still think you’ll get a kick out of it.    

Today, in one of my breakout sessions, I heard something I’ll definitlely be repeating at some point. 

Jeff Henderson, the campus pastor at Buckhead Church said this (and he attributed this quote to Andy Stanley): 

“When something dies, it begins to smell bad!  What smells bad in your church?  It might be dead.”

Just a thought.

The Orange Conference crew surprised us all in our latest session by bringing Andy Stanley in, and asking him some questions. 

For those of you who may not know Andy, he is the lead pastor of Northpoint Community Church, and the author of several of my favorite books, including, “The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry”, “Choosing to Cheat”, “Communicating for a Change”, and “The Best Question Ever”. 

Although it was an interview format, I still walked away with some great notes. 

Here are a few of them:

“At our church, we want people to become self-feeders.  We quit holding people’s hands a lot earlier than most models of church do.”

“Everyone I’ve ever talked to has experienced spiritual growth and progress due to one or more of the following:  Practical Teaching, Providential Relationships, Private Disciplines, Pivotal Circumstances, or Personal Ministry” 

“If spiritual growth happens this way, then why not be more intentional about making these things happen?”

“Why can’t we do what God wants us to do without being critical of someone else who is doing what God wants them to do?”

“If you’re teachable, you’ll go further faster.  If you’re not teachable, you’ll have to learn everything the hard way!”

“Everything we do must be tied back to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…if this truth is getting lost while you help the poor or do whatever else it is that you’re passionate about, then you’re missing the point!”

Jessica Owens just caught a ball that was thrown in the crowd. 

However, I must say that she only caught it after it went through Chris Clark’s hands. 

Of course, Chris had a good excuse for not catching the ball, and I quote, ”I was texting.” 

Anyway, here’s Jessica with her new dodgeball.