Just as Jesus predicted, what originates in the secret place won't always remain a secret. ... How do we guard -- or maybe it would be more appropriate to say, guard against -- our hearts? How do we monitor what's going on in that secret place that has the potential to go public at any moment?

For reasons known only to him, God has chosen to work through men and women who are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the "thing" he has placed in their hearts to do. If God bas birthed a vision in you, it is only a matter of time until you will come upon the precipice of sacrifice.

Uncertainty in a leader is always magnified in the heart of the follower.

What breaks your heart is part of a divine design to bring change!

Every arena of life intersects with what's going on in our hearts. Everything passes through on its way to wherever it's going. Everything.

The church must capture and keep the minds and hearts of students.

Every time I stand to communicate, I want to take one simple truth and lodge it in the heart of the listener. I want them to know that one thing and know what to do with it.

Guilt rarely results in positive behavior. But gratitude? Great things flow from a heart of gratitude.

If you capture someone's heart, you will eventually get his hands and feet as well.

Everything now will prepare you for the next step. Don't run from adversity; lean into it with all your heart and God will make you a leader worth following.

It takes a habit to break a habit. You can pray every day for a generous heart, but until you start acting in that direction, nothing's going to change.

Just as Jesus predicted, what originates in the secret place won't always remain a secret. ... How do we guard -- or maybe it would be more appropriate to say, guard against -- our hearts? How do we monitor what's going on in that secret place that has the potential to go public at any moment?

My high school science teacher once told me that much of Genesis is false. But since my high school teacher did not prove he was God by rising from the dead, I'm going to believe Jesus instead.

Not the one who knows the most, but the one who loves faithfully and consistently the most, is a true follower of Jesus.

Jesus did not come to be right. He came to make disciples.

If you're a Christian you can't have an "I'm better than" attitude toward anyone because everybody is somebody for whom Jesus died.

I can't make people fall in love with Jesus, but I can arrange dates.

If you want to know what Jesus meant by what Jesus said, pay attention to that Jesus did.

Jesus did not come to strike a balance between grace and truth. He brought the full measure of both.

Jesus raised the standard high so we would realize we couldn’t possibly do it without a savior.

Jesus doesn’t take sides; He takes over.

Serving people we don't see eye to eye with is the essence of Christianity. Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it.

Being a sinner does not disqualify you from following Jesus. It's a prerequisite.

Jesus healed people one at a time because God cares about individual people.

Jesus did not predict a place. Jesus predicted a people.

Jesus never allowed His theology to get in the way of His ministry.

As a leader it is your job to protect the missional integrity of the Jesus gathering to which you have been called. It is your responsibility to see to it that the church under your care continues as a gathering of people in process; a place where the curious, the unconvinced, the skeptical, the used-to-believe and the broken, as well as the committed, informed and sold-out come together around Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus is the hope of the world and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.

We begin selling ourselves on what we want to do rather than what we ought to do. We listen to ourselves until we believe our own lies, and the we opt for happiness.

I believe one of the best preparations for marriage is participating in a small group. If a person has learned to be intimate and honest with a few friends before they get married, they will have less reason to fear intimacy after they are married.

My high school science teacher once told me that much of Genesis is false. But since my high school teacher did not prove he was God by rising from the dead, I'm going to believe Jesus instead.

There's a monumental difference in believing in God and believing God.

Believe what you want But don't dumb down what Jesus said.

Our culture highlights all the trouble, all the drama, all the affairs and all the junk. Do not believe for a minute that any of that reflects reality. That does not have to be your future. The handwriting is not written on the wall.

People without clear vision are easily distracted, have a tendency to drift from one idea to another and often make foolish decisions that rob them of their dreams.

People without clear vision are easily distracted, have a tendency to drift from one idea to another and often make foolish decisions that rob them of their dreams.

If fear causes you to retreat from your dreams, you will never give the world anything new.

Strange as it may sound, it is more difficult to maintain a faith walk when we begin to see our dreams come true. When hopes become realities it is easy to shift our faith onto the thing we have dreamed of and off of the One who was the source of our provision.

When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.

Nothing has stolen more dreams, dashed more hopes, broken up more families, and messed up more people psychologically than our propensity to disregard God's commands regarding sexual purity.

Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making a difference.

The great challenge is how to marry creativity with discipline so that discipline amplifies creativity without destroying it.

When people are convinced you want something FOR them rather than something FROM them, they are less likely to be offended when you challenge them.

No matter how much money we have or make, we will probably never consider ourselves rich. The biggest challenge facing rich people is that they've lost they're ability to recognize that they're rich.

Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside

A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act and speak up when everyone else is silent....are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.

What people pray for will tell you more than anything else whether they are locked into the vision and priorities of the church.

As a pastor, I've spent 30 years talking to people and heard every kind of story imaginable.

When a plan or strategy fails, people are tempted to assume it was the wrong vision. Plans and strategies can always be changed and improved. But vision doesn't change. Visions are simply refined with time.

People pray in one direction but they walk in a different direction, and direction always determines where we end up.