Against The Flow

Quotes to inspire and challenge:

‘Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.’ — – Orison Swett Marden

‘Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.’ –Stephen Covey

‘Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.’ – Theodore Roosevelt

‘Pessimism kills the instinct that urges men to struggle against poverty, ignorance and crime, and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world.’ — Helen Keller

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’ — Charlie Brown (Peanuts comic strip)

One of the coolest Books I’ve read recently is the Purple Cow: Transform your business by being remarkable. Seth Godin the author recently published the follow up; “The Big Moo.” I’ve not got to read this yet, but I hope to get it soon. Mark Batterson posted recently the following about it.

Just finised reading The Big Moo by Seth Godin. Godin makes an observation that is so profound at the outset it’s worth reading a few times: “Good enough isn’t good enough .”

That’s especially true for churches! Here’s why. The people we’re trying to minister to are being blown away by the retailers they shop at, the shows they watch, and the restaurants they eat at. Our competition has upped the ante!

If the church stays the same we lose ground via creative inflation.

One of my core convictions is that the church ought to be the most creative place on the planet. Good isn’t good enough. We’ve got to practice creative incarnation. We’re got to be innovating and changing all the time!

Jack Welch said, “When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight.”

Let me take it one step further: when the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside the byproduct is irrelevance. We get further and further out of touch with reality.

I think most of us spend most of our time in left-brain reactive mode. We’re reacting to the urgent instead of doing ministry out of our right-brain imagination.

Prayer is the key to right-brain leadership. It’s the only way to stay proactive.

The right-brain is unorthodox and unconventional. It’s resourceful. It’s not the world of formulas. It’s the realm of dreams, mystery, creativity, and originality. It is the world of make believe. And isn’t that what we’re trying to do?

Good isn’t good enough! We’ve got to do better than good.

I’d rather have one God idea than a thousand good ideas!

This is Good.

Hope your thanksgiving was better than Big Birds.

As a Pastor I’ve learned you can’t please everyone all the time or any time. There is always one group or one person who will get upset. I’ve just learned to deal with it and go on. It’s a tough life having someone always mad, upset, or disappointed with you, but that’s life as a leader. Mark Batterson, posts the following giving insight into why there is always one.

In his book, The Big Moo, Seth Godin says, “Take any population anywhere on the planet and measure just about anything and the distribution of the population almost always comes out as a perfect bell curve.”

There is a bell curve within every church.

There are innovators and resisters. There are adopters and laggards.

I don’t care how big your vision is or how good your idea is. You will always find someone who supports a bad idea and someone who opposes a good idea. It’s inevitable. Why? Because there is always a bell curve. In other words, don’t expect 100% endorsement of your vision. Expect some resisters along the way!

Even Jesus lost one of his disciples who sold out for 30 pieces of silver. Maybe 11 out of 12 isn’t a bad batting average for leaders?

I think sometimes we get too discouraged by the one out of twelve who betray our vision and we forget about the eleven out of twelve who would die for us! That’s what the other disciples did.

Don’t let a Judas keep you from doing what God has called you to do. There’s a Judas in every church. There’s also a Peter, James, and John. Sometimes you have to do what Jesus did. He told Judas to do what he needed to do.

Whenever I get discouraged because someone isn’t as excited as I am about an idea I remind myself that there is always a bell curve. I don’t care how charismatic you are. I don’t care how God-ordained the idea is. I don’t care how much sense you make. There will always be resisters and laggards. It’s the bell curve.

Tell the Truth,
Test the Limits.
Never Settle for
Just “very Good.”