quotes of the week #38

can't believe i've posted 38 editions of my quotes of the week! enjoy this one:
“Christianity is more than a matter of new beliefs. Following Jesus is an invitation to be part of an alternate society that is formed around Him. Right living within this community is more of the challenge than having the right beliefs.” – Mike Erre, pastor & author

“That everybody would worship God by serving each other. That those wouldn’t be two things, but one. This is why God continually mentions the widow, the orphan, and the refugee. Remembering them, caring for them, serving them is worshipping God.” – Rob Bell, pastor and author

“As far as the propositions of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” – Albert Einstein, late brilliant physicist [we could learn a lot about our new world from this quote.]

“In our culture, even if a Pastor doesn’t love people he can still be considered ‘successful’ as long as he’s a good speaker, makes his people laugh, and prays for those poor people every Sunday.” – Francis Chan, pastor and author 

[wow. ouch. how often does this happen?

“I’m perplexed at how anyone can hear the story of Jesus dying in our place and rescuing us out of our helplessness and have it produce arrogance in their life.” – Rick McKinley, pastor and author 

[right on, Rick. perplexed is right]

“The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do… to find that idea for which I can live and die.” – Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher

“Instead of being about the kingdom of God coming to earth, the Christian religion has too often become preoccupied with abandoning or escaping the earth and going to heaven.” – Brian McLaren, author & leader

“In a pluralist society there is always a temptation to judge the importance of any statement of the truth by the number of people who believe it. Truth, for practical purposes, is what most people believe. Christians can fall into this trap.” – Lesslie Newbigin, author & forefather of the postmodern missional church

[this is the world we live in!]

“I read the Gospels over and over. Nothing I was doing on Sunday was what I thought Jesus would be doing if He were here.” – Joe Boyd, pastor

"You have to follow your passion for a long time before you receive any external reward for it." – John Maxwell, author and leadership guru
[crazy true statement, eh?]

do you have a favorite quote of the week?