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tony — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:47:42 +0000

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Story 09: Donald Miller

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:55:28 +0000

5:57 PM tonymorganlive - as you might guess, donald is opening his talk with a story.
5:59 PM tonymorganlive - “a story is a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.”
6:01 PM tonymorganlive - “what’s meaningful in a story is meaningful because it’s meaningful in life.”
6:01 PM tonymorganlive - “story has unbelievable power to engage the human brain.”
6:05 PM tonymorganlive - “we sit down with the text and ask, ‘what’s in it for me?’ what if it’s just about God?”
6:12 PM tonymorganlive - “a character in story is only what they actually do.”
6:19 PM tonymorganlive - “conflict is in fact very, very beautiful. a story cannot be meaningful unless it includes conflict.”
6:21 PM tonymorganlive - “you were designed to be the person who walks around naked and doesn’t know it. no offense, but i don’t want you to be the person God designed you to be.”
6:23 PM tonymorganlive - “conflict is the only way a character changes in a story. the only way a person becomes better is through pain.”
6:23 PM tonymorganlive - “pain changes us.”
6:24 PM tonymorganlive - “conflict lends value to that which we want to attain.”
6:28 PM tonymorganlive - “conflict has to take place in your life in order for life to have meaning.”
6:29 PM tonymorganlive - “your conversion experience is not the climax of the story. the conflict continues.”
6:33 PM tonymorganlive - “the number one way you and i consume stories is through each other.”

Story 09: Nancy Beach

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:00:42 +0000

3:04 PM tonymorganlive - “i have always treasured a good story.”
3:07 PM tonymorganlive - nancy is sharing quotes from a book. sorry. didn’t catch name of it or author.
3:09 PM tonymorganlive - “i wish Jesus had stayed in the grave for about a week, because it would have made it easier for us artists.” (talking about programming for Good Friday and Easter Sunday services)
3:12 PM tonymorganlive - “there’s never been an age that hasn’t produced fairy tales.”
3:14 PM tonymorganlive - “there’s a child lurking in everyone of us.”
3:17 PM tonymorganlive - now hearing holly laurent read a story.

Story 09: John Ortberg

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:44:57 +0000

2:45 PM tonymorganlive - (listening to john ortberg here…one of my favorite communicators.)
2:48 PM tonymorganlive - “am i willing to hear the story of this world?”
2:49 PM tonymorganlive - “it’s so easy to get focused on me and my story.”
2:52 PM tonymorganlive - (fyi… my friends from monvee.com were across the hall from my lunch session where john ortberg was also speaking. the smart people chose ortberg over me for lunch.)
2:53 PM tonymorganlive - “shalom means ‘the way God wants things to be.’”
2:57 PM tonymorganlive - “God, your Kingdom come. Your will be done.”
2:58 PM tonymorganlive - “die to your old story and become part of a bigger story.”

Story 09: Chris Seay

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:33:20 +0000

12:34 PM tonymorganlive - “words only point us someplace.”
12:34 PM tonymorganlive - “tell the creation story rather than fighting how long a ‘day’ is.”
12:39 PM tonymorganlive - “teach the narrative of Scripture rather than reducing it to propositions.”
12:39 PM tonymorganlive - “i love Chicago. i hate the Cubs.”
12:40 PM tonymorganlive - “the world should have more one-armed truck drivers.”
12:46 PM tonymorganlive - “the Bible is not your sword to pick up and hit people with.”
12:50 PM tonymorganlive - “we need not propositionalize everything.”
12:51 PM tonymorganlive - “we’re not tired because we’re doing too much. we’re tired because we’re doing the wrong things.”
12:58 PM tonymorganlive - “there’s no one more inclusive than Jesus.”
12:59 PM tonymorganlive - “we must call sin ‘sin.’ but we can’t say, “deal with this first, and then we’ll deal with you.’”

Story 09: Dave Gibbons

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:56:24 +0000

12:56 PM tonymorganlive - dave just took the platform…and he’s reading a funny story.
1:00 PM tonymorganlive - “we desire to connect.”
1:00 PM tonymorganlive - “we desire to connect with a person and a dialogue.”
1:02 PM tonymorganlive - “we define success at our churches by size and amount of our budgets.”
1:02 PM tonymorganlive - “what would happen if we focused 80% of our money on impacting our cities?”
1:04 PM tonymorganlive - “we don’t share out of pain. we share out of success.”
1:08 PM tonymorganlive - “when there’s personal revelation of your weakness, it releases the power of the Holy Spirit.”
1:11 PM tonymorganlive - “when you think about discipling someone, is it really true that you have everything they need?” (talking about discipleship strategy in churches)
1:13 PM tonymorganlive - “we’re not listening to people’s stories and watching where the voice of the Holy Spirit intersects them.”
1:16 PM tonymorganlive - “what should people be uncomfortable about?”
1:19 PM tonymorganlive - “love’s a choice.”
1:21 PM tonymorganlive - “be real with the pain. start confessing your sin.”

Story 09: Ed Young

tony — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:35:02 +0000

11:36 AM tonymorganlive - ed is telling a story to open the first message from Story 09.
11:39 AM tonymorganlive - “the Bible is all about rescue.”
11:40 AM tonymorganlive - “the radically rescued should rescue the radicals.”
11:43 AM tonymorganlive - “everybody wants to reach to people until you start reaching people.”
11:46 AM tonymorganlive - “i love to rhyme when i’m speaking.” (no kidding…)
11:51 AM tonymorganlive - “i would rather have people choose to volunteer over being in a small group.”
11:52 AM tonymorganlive - “who are you reaching?”
11:53 AM tonymorganlive - rather than “how many people are showing up?”
11:53 AM tonymorganlive - “chaos is good.”
11:56 AM tonymorganlive - “usually staff members want to hire people to do their job.”
11:56 AM tonymorganlive - “we would rather pay for it than get volunteers.”
12:01 PM tonymorganlive - “be active in sharing your faith.”
12:03 PM tonymorganlive - “let people share their rescue story.”
12:04 PM tonymorganlive - “leverage your passion for a purpose” to reach people.
12:05 PM tonymorganlive - “people pray some dumb prayers.”

The Principle of the Path

tony — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:30:45 +0000

I finished Andy Stanley’s most recent book, The Principle of the Path, last week. Andy is one of those guys that seems to have figured out how to get from here to there, so I figured I’d read his book about how to get from where I am to where I want to be.

Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

“To get from where we don’t want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction.”
“Direction–not intentions, hopes, dreams, prayers, beliefs, intellect, or education–determines destination.”
“We should break the habit of drawing a circle around individual decisions and events and dismissing them as isolated occurrences. These are steps. Steps that lead somewhere.”
“Prudent people look as far down the road as possible when making decisions.”
“Christians start talking about forgiveness as if somehow forgiveness serves as an escape hatch from the outcome of bad decisions.”
“When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that’s when really smart people start doing really stupid things.”
“Your heart can’t be trusted… The truth is, if you let it, your heart will direct you down a path that leads to the very spot you most want to avoid.”
“The choices are now. The outcomes are later. The decisions you make today have ramifications down the road.”
“One never accomplishes the will of God by breaking the law of God, violating the principles of God, or ignoring the wisdom of God.”
“I am constantly amazed at how resistant folks are to take their cues from people who are where they want to be.”
“We don’t drift in good directions. We discipline and prioritize ourselves there.”

Simple principles in this book, but their implications have an enormous impact on the outcomes of our lives.

I encourage you to pick up the book. I’m leaving lots of great quotes and stories out of this post. Among other things, I cracked up when I read Andy’s version of “The Italian Job”…and it made me want to visit Italy that much more.

Here’s my Amazon link if you’d like to order the book online.

innovate: Perry Noble

tony — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:53:07 +0000

7:55 PM tonymorganlive - “If you are a pastor in the South, you have to be strapped [own a gun].”
7:56 PM tonymorganlive - “When the alarm goes off, you can’t be passive.”
7:57 PM tonymorganlive - “The message to the Church is this: you better wake up!”
7:58 PM tonymorganlive - “I believe the Church’s best days are ahead of her.”
7:59 PM tonymorganlive - (You should see the woman who is trying to sign everything that Perry is saying. Her arms are flailing about.)
8:00 PM tonymorganlive - “What is it that God wants to do in my church?”
8:01 PM tonymorganlive - “I didn’t say ‘What is it that the deacons or the bloggers want to do in my church?’”
8:03 PM tonymorganlive - “The ‘older brother’ is sitting in the seat of leadership in our churches.” (referring to the story of the Prodigal Son)
8:06 PM tonymorganlive - “The older son didn’t have the heart of the father in him.”
8:06 PM tonymorganlive - “At conferences, there’s too much inspiration and not enough revelation.”
8:06 PM tonymorganlive - “If you don’t have a vision, you’re not a leader.”
8:07 PM tonymorganlive - “The only way we can’t get a vision from God is to spend time with God.”
8:08 PM tonymorganlive - “You gotta’ be stupid to plant a church.”
8:09 PM tonymorganlive - “God used unschooled, ordinary men to change the world.”
8:10 PM tonymorganlive - “People say, ‘The music is too loud.’ Well, you’re going to hate Heaven.”
8:11 PM tonymorganlive - “We have to pray and work.”
8:12 PM tonymorganlive - “We have to put effort into it.”
8:14 PM tonymorganlive - “If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.”
8:14 PM tonymorganlive - “This is my opinion…but I’m right.”
8:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Most churches stick their kids and students in the basement with a woman that knew Moses.”
8:19 PM tonymorganlive - “We’re going going to try to listen to God and do what he says.”
8:19 PM tonymorganlive - “What are the barriers that stand in our way?”
8:19 PM tonymorganlive - “Did you know there are some people that don’t want the church to grow?”
8:20 PM tonymorganlive - “I thought the food fight in the grave yard was a great idea.”
8:21 PM tonymorganlive - “Here’s how you know you’ve got a vision from God: It makes people mad.”
8:21 PM tonymorganlive - “Christians are the meanest people in the world.”
8:26 PM tonymorganlive - 3 problems… #1 = “Refusal to change.”
8:27 PM tonymorganlive - “Pastors, we can’t lead a church according to personal preferences.”
8:28 PM tonymorganlive - “The church in Acts grew because it was willing to change.”
8:29 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t change things just to change things. That’s stupid.”
8:30 PM tonymorganlive - #2 = “Jealousy.”
8:30 PM tonymorganlive - “Jealousy will stop a church from growing faster than anything.”
8:31 PM tonymorganlive - “Is it all about the numbers? I think it is.”
8:32 PM tonymorganlive - #3 = “Lack of understanding.”
8:33 PM tonymorganlive - “The same God that was in the book of Acts is in your church.”
8:34 PM tonymorganlive - “When we make church growth a formula, we tell God we don’t need him.”
8:34 PM tonymorganlive - “We can prepare for a move of God, but we can’t plan for it.”
8:34 PM tonymorganlive - “What do we want to celebrate?”
8:39 PM tonymorganlive - “We always like to condemn the sins we’re not committing.”
8:39 PM tonymorganlive - “We don’t try to be relevant. We preach the Gospel.”
8:40 PM tonymorganlive - “Aren’t we all sinners that needed a Savior?”
8:41 PM tonymorganlive - “Jesus did not die for your political party.”
8:41 PM tonymorganlive - “We yell at lost people for acting like lost people.”
8:42 PM tonymorganlive - “At the end of the day, all I want to see is for people to meet Jesus.”
8:42 PM tonymorganlive - “Because I haven’t forgotten what it feels like to be lost.”
8:43 PM tonymorganlive - “Jesus saved me, and he changed me.”
8:43 PM tonymorganlive - “That’s what we celebrate: changed lives.”

innovate: Ed Stetzer

tony — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:14:06 +0000

11:16 AM tonymorganlive - “Unconfessed sin impacts the power of God in our churches.”
11:16 AM tonymorganlive - (Ed is looking great btw… I think we’re going to be able to share clothes soon. Very exciting.)
11:18 AM tonymorganlive - “I don’t look promiscuous. I got that covered.” :-)
11:19 AM tonymorganlive - “Before God, sin is sin.”
11:19 AM tonymorganlive - “God change me. God forgive me. God make me right.”
11:21 AM tonymorganlive - (Love this. Ed is talking about sin with church leaders. We are not perfect. We still wrestle with sin. We don’t wear our sin on our sleeves, but we still sin. And there are consequences to our sin. God change me. God forgive me.)
11:22 AM tonymorganlive - “Compromise is Satan’s desire.”
11:23 AM tonymorganlive - “If Satan cannot compromise our beliefs, he’s happy to settle for compromising our character.”
11:24 AM tonymorganlive - “We need to be Gospel centered and repentance filled lives.”
11:26 AM tonymorganlive - “Secret sins are only that way for a short time.”
11:26 AM tonymorganlive - “God has a desire to bring secret sins out.”
11:27 AM tonymorganlive - “If you’re not repenting of your sin, your sin will catch up with you.”
11:27 AM tonymorganlive - “If you won’t come to repentance, God will bring you to repentance.”
11:28 AM tonymorganlive - “We have become too comfortable with sin in our lives.”
11:29 AM tonymorganlive - “Private sin can deliver the community of faith into public defeat.”
11:30 AM tonymorganlive - “Pastor, your sin saps your church’s spiritual power.”
11:31 AM tonymorganlive - “Just as faith is best lived out in community, so is sin. Get broken or God will break you.”
11:32 AM tonymorganlive - “The church’s toleration of sin distracts it from the mission God has called it to.”
11:38 AM tonymorganlive - “Stop trying to convince yourself that the sin in your life won’t impact the mission of your church.”
11:38 AM tonymorganlive - “A return to God’s mission begins with a repentance to God’s standard.”
11:43 AM tonymorganlive - The Bible says: “Sin is crouching at the door.”
11:44 AM tonymorganlive - “Your life is filled with sin. My life is filled with sin, but that doesn’t mean we have to be comfortable with it.”
11:46 AM tonymorganlive - “It’s so easy to think: I’m glad I’m not like him. Well, you are just like him.” (talking about Ted Haggard)
11:47 AM tonymorganlive - “We find ways to justify our own sin.”
11:48 AM tonymorganlive - “When I spoke here last year, I weighed 117 pounds more than I do today. I had to deal with the sin in my life.”
11:50 AM tonymorganlive - (This is very powerful. Ed is sharing his story. I’m not going to try to summarize here. You’ll need to hear it for yourselves at some point.)
11:55 AM tonymorganlive - “We’re spending too much time in the work of the Lord rather than with the Lord of the work.”
11:56 AM tonymorganlive - “Listen to the Lord. He’ll convict you. And tomorrow you’ll need to do it again.”