When I heard that Dallas Willard had passed away on Wednesday, I found myself thinking about all the times I’ve written out something he said or wrote on an index card or a post-it note.  When I looked back at some of the quotes that have impacted me I found this one:

A mature disciple is one who effortlessly does what Jesus would do if Jesus were him.

No mention of what they know.  Only what they do and the inference that they do it because of who they have become.

I hear this (or something like it) a lot.

“We don’t want to just connect people.  We want to help more of our adults become disciples who make disciples.  We know what we want to end up with.  We’re just finding it hard to get the majority of our adults to answer the call and make the commitments they need to make.”

Ever heard that?  Ever said that?

Listen.  I want that too!  But, when I hear that line, I’m reminded again how important it is that we never forget that most of the adults in our sheepfolds aren’t looking for the thrill that comes in being a disciple.  They’re not.

What most of the unconnected adults in our sheepfolds are looking for is the sense that they matter, the sense that they’re known, the sense that they belong.

If we want to help more of the adults in our sheepfolds become disciples who make disciples, we’ve got to design first steps that are easy, obvious and strategic.  They need to be doable.  They need to be blatant.  And they need to lead in the right direction.

The first order of business?  Design first steps that are easy.  The most important thing that for us to remember is that if we want people to arrive at the destination of a disciple who makes disciples…they’ve got to move from where they are.

Legendary Sunday school teacher Henrietta Mears said, ”It is difficult to steer a parked car, so get moving.”

Don’t forget this.  Ever.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Having the discussion about next year’s budget yet?  Trying to figure out how to allocate limited dollars?  Shrinking dollars?  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used this great Carl George line:

“Leaders allocate the finite resources of the organization to the critical growth path.”

No one says it like Carl George.  So much to learn from one line.  Who allocates to the critical growth path?  Leaders.  Everyone else chooses based on a whim, personal preference or “what we’ve always done.”

See also Ten Ideas that Have Shaped My Philosophy of Ministry and Budgeting for the Preferred Future.

I was working my way through an article by Dallas Willard and was stopped in my tracks by this:

“As a disciple I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life if he were I.  I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, of course; but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner and from the source from which he did all that he did.”  Dallas Willard, Living a Transformed Life Adequate to Our Calling

What do you think?  How does that line up with your course description?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

What do you believe about the upside of having options?  I am loving Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, a new book by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin.  Here’s a great line from A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Proctor and Gamble:

“In my now forty-plus years in business, I have found that most leaders do not like to make choices.  They’d rather keep their options open.  Choices force their hands, pin them down, and generate an uncomfortable degree of personal risk.

“In effect, by thinking about options instead of choices and failing to define winning robustly, these leaders choose to play but not to win.”  A.G. Lafley, (p. 48, Playing to Win)

This has everything to do with a plated meal as opposed to a buffet.  It’s all about thinking steps, not programs.  And it’s about designing next steps that are easy, obvious and strategic.

Sometimes a great one-liner can be very useful.

I love this line from Lewis Carroll:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland

You can see some of my other favorite quotes and one-liners right here.

How are you seen by the members of your team?  By your peers?  What about senior leadership?  Are you seen as someone who keeps the peace?  Or more as the one rockin’ the boat?

I’ve said for years that my dream job title is The Disruptor of the Status Quo.  And that’s why I love this quote about the upside of the unreasonable man:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw

By the way, the battle with the status quo is a recurring theme here.  If you haven’t read my article, Beware the Lure of the Status Quo…you should read it today!

One of many great lines from Andy Stanley at Re:Group:

“The real church is not facility dependent.  Never has been.  Never will be.  The real church is not preacher dependent.  Never has been.  Never will be.  Why?  Because life-change happens best in circles, not in rows.”  Andy Stanley

If you’ve been along for much of the journey here, you know we talk a lot about reaching way beyond crowd’s edge and far into the community.  And probably, if you’ve been influenced much by that vision, you’ve had to defend the practice of making it possible for ordinary people to lead groups.

I have no doubt that you’ve had intense discussions with the proponents of a high bar of leadership and you’ve fought back the little mobs willing to settle for predictable and verifiable and safe while a generation drowns in a vast ocean bereft of lifeboats.

I want to thank you for joining me in this passion to connect people.  I really mean that.  My dream, my mission is to connect as many as possible, to pull as many as possible from the wreckage.  I feel like you are with me in this.

I heard Andy Stanley talk about Deep and Wide about a month ago.  I knew immediately that we’d be talking a lot about this book over the coming months.  See if this quote helps you see the relevance too:

I’m sure that somewhere in the world there is an actual “fountain flowing deep and wide.”  But that has nothing to do with why I chose the title.  By the time you finish the book, I hope you will be as convinced as I am that healthy local churches can be, and should be, both deep and wide.  It’s not either/or.  It’s both/and.  Local churches should be characterized by deep roots and wide reaches (p. 18).

Deep and wide.  I long for that, too.  I probably would have called it Wide and Deep…

Want to come along?  You can pick up a copy right here.

What do you think?  Want to argue? I’d love to know what you think. You can click here to jump into the conversation.

I love a great quote.  And one of my favorite lines concerns what for me is an essential idea.  Arriving at the preferred future.

A couple years ago I was listening to an Andy Stanley talk about the principle of the path.  So good.  The line I’ll never forget happened when he said:

Path, not intent, determines destination.

Think about it.  No matter your dreams, your vision, your hopes or your good intentions…the path you’re on absolutely determines the destination.

He told a great story about a time in his youth when he was careening down what he and Louis Giglio believed to be the quickest way to get home, only to be flagged down by a speeding car trying to get their attention.  Only when they stopped to see what the other driver was trying to tell them did they realize that the bridge ahead was under construction.

Their best intentions–get home on time–would not matter.  The path they were on didn’t lead to the preferred destination.

Forget about your dreams, your vision, your hopes, your intentions.  Does the path you’re on actually lead to where you’d like to go?