One thing Brian Dodd does really well is to collect wisdom from all over and distill it into concise, useful lists. This list originally appeared on his website, and it’s filled with prayer points and conversation starters. Why not review this list of 20 leadership quotes from great church planters with your team, and see where these ideas take you?
Derwin Gray
- Churches in America are 10 times more ethnically segregated than their neighborhoods. Churches in America are 20 times more ethnically segregated than their schools.
- When you are preparing your weekends, are you more concerned about shock and awe or that love reigns?
- Transformation Church is not a building but a collection of broken people being made whole.
- Sometimes you got to lose some people for a great vision. We got to be Jack Bauer sometimes because that dude makes some difficult decisions.
Dave Ferguson
- Pastors have one of the four hardest jobs in the world—alongside the President of the United States, president of a university and president of Hospice.
- Out of control people have friendships that are less than accountable…Out of control people tell themselves, “It’s going to get better if I can just get through this week.”
ALSO: HOW TO GROW A CHURCH—CHOOSE YOUR LEADERSHIP MODEL
Shawn Lovejoy
- I am concerned by a trend I see in ministry with young leaders in we want the fame of gameday without the pain of training.
- Church planters, they all want to plant and harvest on the same day.
- You always look like you’re winning on Twitter.
- My greatest temptation in ministry every single day for 14 days is to substitute what I’m doing for God for my time with God.
Mike Linch
- Visions are always birthed from burdens. A great vision always comes about from a burden you have.
- There are times what God does in churches is bigger than us.
- Over 17 years at NorthStar, we’ve helped hundreds of churches when they start. I can tell you within one lunch how long they will last. Are they willing to fight for the vision?
- The greater the vision and burden, the louder the critic.
- The more personal the burden and vision, the more personal you take the criticism.
Matt Adair
- One thing I notice about church planters and church planting families is that you’re angry and depressed. I know this because of how much you yell on social media.
- There is this depression in church planters because you thought you’d be more successful.
- What is so hard is not what’s going on out there but what’s going on in my soul. There are extraordinary people in the Kingdom and you’re not one of them.
- Most of our messages are self-reliance with a little-bit of Christian spin.
- If you want to bless your city you must recover your prophetic voice in preaching… You must help people know what’s going on.
