I recently read Mark Driscoll's "Confessions of a Reformission Rev" and loved it--hilarious, profound and full of practical ministry help. He tells it like it is, and I appreciate his boldness.
So, I'm going to post some quotes that I thought were great (and very applicable to local church ministry) and hopefully at least 5% of you will also find them to be at least semi-intriguing. I'm not asking for much.
"I learned that in a small church, ministry is generally something the pastor does for his people and that the people chip in if and when they feel like it. I feared that if this mindset remained in my church, it would either fail to grow or grow and bury me in work for lazy and ungrateful church people." p.45
"When Paul said that a pastor must fight like a soldier, train like an athlete, and work hard like a farmer, he had in mind the manliest of men leading the church. Sadly, the weakest men are often drawn to ministry simply because it is an indoor job that does not require heavy lifting." p.54
On 'friends' who were leaving the church because they were upset with Pastor Mark: "It seemed obvious to me that they wanted us to bend over backward and promise to do anything to make them in happy in order to keep them in the church. I sent them on their way because they were not on our mission to bring the gospel to Seattle. For them, the mission was to get me to jump like a trained dog upon command....if a pastor agrees to these demands, he will keep disgruntled people but not reach any new people because the mission will shift from reaching new people to pleasing old people." p.81
"I wanted a church filled with missionaries, Christians who were learning how to become missionaries, and lost people. I would not accept a church filled with Christians who did not give, serve, or reach lost people, because they invariably make themselves and their selfish desires the mission of a church and kill innovation and momentum." p.112
"Over the years I've just accepted that if I not quickly open the back door when God is trying to run people out of our church, I am working against God by keeping sick people in my church so they can infect others. Indeed, the church is a body, and one of the most important parts is the colon. Like the human body, any church body without a colon is destined for sickness that leads to death." p. 131
"The best and brightest people are no longer attracted to the church because it has lost sight of any risky mission that calls people to rise up in faith." p. 143
"The college kids and singles who had sucked resources from youth groups and parachurch ministries for their life without giving or serving were generally just more dead weight to drag around....various life stages and generations are supposed to love each other as the church, not be isolated from each other in departments of the church." p.46/159
"Pastors in our area are prone to jump on various bandwagons, from political causes and social agendas, and want me to do the same. I refuse to join them not because they are wrong but because their projects are off my God-given mission and, therefore, are a waste of my time and energy, not unlike a hockey player spending hours perfecting his curveball." p.53
Response to a man who called him at 3am to confess to watching porn: "You need to stop watching porno and crying like a baby afterward and grow up, man. I don't have time to be your accountability partner, so you need to be a man and nut up and take care of this yourself. A naked lady is good to look at, so get a job, get a wife, ask her to get naked and look at her instead. Alright?" p. 60
"The young arty types were more willing to serve, providing it was something cool and up-front like playing worship or speaking to the group in eccentric and bohemian fashion, which would be tough to organize because if they were all on the stage, we'd have no one left to sit in the room and watch them be cool." p. 46
After a hippy college guy in their church leads them on some art-project type thing that requires painting their emotions: "It was the gayest thing I ever did."
Good times.
