Michael B

“True fellowship can never be diluted by numbers, only by complacency and sin.”
― Ken Hemphill, Bonsai Theory of Church Growth

“When we understand that the people on our rolls are persons for whom Jesus died, we will treasure any and every contact with them. When we prune them from our roll, we forfeit opportunities to touch their lives for the kingdom of God. Don’t prune them; go find them.”
― Ken Hemphill, Bonsai Theory of Church Growth

“This is the pattern—Abdication, Idolatry, Blame-shifting. It shows up again and again in the Scriptures. Aaron and the golden calf in Exodus 32. Saul and the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15. It’s this abdication of leadership, this neglect of the duties and responsibilities of authority, this failure of nerve that lies at the root of our cultural crisis.”
― Joe Rigney, Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: Resisting the Anxiety That Will Wreck Your Family, Destroy Your Church, and Ruin the World

“I admit, however, my surprise when, many years later, I found myself living a life that was neither safe nor secure. I was stunned when, despite what I considered to be a life of sacrificial obedience, I could point to very little in my ministry that was “effective.” There were simply no results to measure. And success was a word that I would have never used to describe what I had done.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected