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!”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am and is filed under Family Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.