quotes of the week #9

OK 3rd week in a row of this 6 weeks of trying out "quotes of the week". You can read the disclaimer & explanation HERE. [& as always my personal thoughts are in brackets]

#1 Quote of the week:
"The concept of downsizing so that others [the poor] can upgrade is beautiful, biblical, & nearly unheard of." - Francis Chan, author & Pastor of Cornerstone... [I LOVE that! And I wanna DO that. And I wanna make this concept become HEARD OF instead of "unheard of."]

"If a man wants to read good books, he must make a point of avoiding bad ones; for life is short, and time and energy limited." – Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher [I am being very strategic about doing just that!]

“That’s the reason they don’t go to church – because they’ve been to church.” – Chris Brown, my pastor @ Ridge, + my mentor & boss [he said this in a staff meeting conversation a while back. It's so pimp & so true which makes it so sad. BUT we're a church that's trying to change that. We're changing the paradigm.]

[I read this tweet a few hours after Michael Jackson died...] "crazy thought... the 'king of pop' stands before the 'King of Glory' today... Fame redefined." - via @feeband (Steve Fee) [I just had to ReTweet that! (new awesome album coming 10/6! stoked.)]

“The church gets in trouble whenever it thinks it is in the church business rather than the Kingdom business... Church people often put church work above the concerns of justice, mercy, and truth.” – Howard Snyder, theology prof. [ouch. Is he talking to me?]

“Don’t defend what you’re doing, just DO what you’re doing.” – Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring [I am starting to straight up love this guy!]

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.” – Mortimer J. Adler, author [from a great little book (ha, 600 pages) called How to Read a Book that I highly recommend if you read more than 1 book per year. Or, if you don't even read 1 per year then maybe YOU'RE the one who really needs it? Anyway, do you agree with that quote?]

“The Church is 1 place in the world where there should be equality.” – Rick McKinley, author & pastor @ Imago Dei. genuinely normal dude.

“The power of the Gospel lies not in the offer of a new spirituality or religious experience, not in the threat of hellfire…which can be removed if only the hearer checks this box, says this prayer, raises a hand, or whatever, but in the powerful announcement that God is God, that Jesus is Lord, that the powers of evil have been defeated, that God’s new world has begun.” – N.T. Wright, bishop & author [right on bishop Wright!]

“There are no U-Hauls behind hearses.” – John Piper, author, pastor, & one of my heroes. [right on Piper... my homeboy. WHY don't we live like we believe that?]

***And yes I put those last 2 peoples' quotes together on purpose... haha, not accidental. Hopefully you enjoy the irony.

Now - YOU'RE TURN. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SOME OF THESE?