Jonathan is the Senior Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church.  He is also the Executive Vice President of Spiritual Affairs at my alma mater, Liberty University.

“If Jesus is not the only way, then I’m just wasting my time.” 

“As followers of Jesus, we have been called to say some things that may be unpopular”

“The church is not a civic organization…we have to do everything we do in the name of Jesus.”

“We have forgotten that we’ve been sent, that we’ve been called.””

“As we go after our communities, we must remember that God is with us every step of the way.”

“The ends of the earth will not be found within the walls of our churches.”

Eric is the Executive Pastor of Christ Fellowship, of Miami, Florida, and co-author of the Simple Church. I don’t know that there is another book that has impacted the leaders in our church more than this book, and we are so excited that he was able to join us for this week.

Here a few of the highlights from his challenge.

“Your view of the mission will impact how you live your mission.”

“At one time, I thought that I was a Jesus salesman, and that my whole job was to sell product Jesus and close the deal.”

“We are ambassadors, not salesman or hunters or anything else.”

“As ambassadors, we represent Christ in this culture for a limited amount of time.”

“It is not our job to sell Jesus, but represent Him.”

“When we understand that we are sent, the ordinary will become sacred.”

“Jesus stepped into our culture and rescued us…we have to step into this culture and rescue others.”

Brad hit a homerun again last night.  I didn’t have time to post some of the highlights last night, but here are a few of the thoughts I wrote down from his message. 

“Jesus didn’t leave Heaven because He thought it would be a fun experience.”

“It’s weird to hear modern day Christians talk about Pharisees as if they’re not Pharisees themselves!”

“The church that’s working according to God’s original design is a reflection of Jesus…they are open and focused outward instead of closed and focused outward.”

“I don’t have the gift of discernment, but some things are obvious. When somebody says to me, ‘We are many’, I know there’s a problem!” (read Mark 5 and you’ll better understand this quote)

“Some people think that when they leave church that God stays.”

“Jesus didn’t save us so we could be comfortable. He saves us so we could take light into darkness.”

“Jesus believed that a naked guy who cut his wrists could impact his community.”

“We need to intentionally build relationships with people who don’t know Jesus…because that’s the only way they’ll ever know Jesus.”

Jerry Thorpe is the Pastor Emeritus of Crossroads Fellowship, of Odessa, Texas.

I first met him almost 10 years ago when he spoke at an event at Liberty University, but last night, I discovered that he and I have something huge in common. He worked on staff at a church with his dad, just like I do, and amazingly, he did this for 20 years. I’m not even halfway there, and I told him I might need to do lunch with him this week to get some ideas on how to make it

Anyway, here a few thoughts from his message:

“A witness is someone who shares what they’ve experienced”

“Get people out of the lake!” (this was a powerful illustration and I wish I could explain it in full here but maybe the next two quotes will help you connect the dots a little bit better)

“Quit worrying about how others are getting people out of the lake and just get people out of the lake!”

“Get people out of the lake every day!”

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could win people to Jesus together?”

“The world is not beating down the world to get in your church!”

Brad Powell is the Senior Pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, and the author of the book, “Change Your Church for Good”.  Brad is also a phenomenal leader and one of my heroes.

There is no way I can do justice to his message, but here are a few sound bytes.

“We live in a world today that would do anything to hear the voice of a Savior.”

 “The church is the hope of the world, when it’s working right.  And therein lies the problem, most churches aren’t working right.” 

“The great compromise is that we are hiding light inside a building.” 

 “You know why it’s so easy to judge the world?  Because it makes us feel better about ourselves!”  

“I believe the church of Jesus Christ today is selfish.  They have locked themselves in their buildings and are more committed to love themselves more than they love the lost.” 

“Too many people love the church more than they love God.” 

“All of Satan’s efforts are centered around keeping us from taking light into the darkness. Only God can build a church that will prevail against the gates of hell.” 

“I’m glad Jesus didn’t caught up in the joys of Heaven and forget about us.  Now, we must not get caught up in the joys of our church and forget about the lost people all around us.”