Revitalize Your Church

How do you know if you're making the right move?  Bill Blankschaen shared the following 5 questions to discern a life change: 1.  Are you centered on what matters most? 2.  Are you clear on your calling? 3.  Are you growing where you are? 4.  Are you running from ____________? 5.  Are you willing to move forward? Read the entire post here via Ed Stetzer .

Change is a part of life -- and when you quit changing, you're through!  Though change is uncomfortable, we need to embrace it to thrive.   Those who expend energy maintaining status quo, soon discover it's an uphill battle, going downhill fast. Life is far more rewarding when we live into change rather than shrinking back from it.

My friend, Famous Dave, sent me an insightful and thought provoking e-mail yesterday. It's a brief essay written by Art Erickson, co-founder and CEO of Urban Ventures . With Art's gracious permission, I am sharing it with you: " 'Be careful that no one misleads you,' returned Jesus, 'for many will come in my name saying, "I am Christ",and they will mislead many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars - do not be alarmed. Such things must indeed happen, but that is not the end. For one nation will rise in arms against another, and one kingdom against and other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in different parts of the world. But all that is only the beginning of the birth-pangs." Matthew 24:4-8 You hear people ask today, "How long will it take before we get back to normal?" Wrong question! We will never go back to normal! There are only "new normals" ahead, and no one knows what they look like. In fact, in this...

Because They Don't Have a Sense of Urgency. (Great article by my friend, Alan Nelson , reflecting on Kotter's new book, A Sense of Urgency )

It is never too late to become the person you might have been! -- George Elliot

A great thought by my blogger buddy, Chuck Warnock on launching new efforts in a congregation. A spear has a sharp point, not a broad blade. Most of the time in churches we think we need a broad blade — lots of people involved in every ministry we start. But, when you really think about it, new ministries mostly are “spear-shaped.” The leading edge of the spear is sharp, pointed, and thin. Read the entire post here.

The modern day church is often a weak and ineffectual church and is often an arch-supporter of the status quo. -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

If you are willing to satisfy people with good enough, you can make just about everybody happy. If you delight people and create change that lasts, you’re going to offend those that hate change in all its forms. Your choice. -- Seth Godin (via Tony Morgan )

Sometimes snakes can't slough. They can't burst their old skin. Then they go sick and die inside the old skin, and nobody ever sees the new pattern. It needs a real desperate recklessness to burst your old skin at last. You simply don't care what happens to you, if you rip yourself in two, so long as you do get out. -- D. H. Lawrence