Churches in Mound

“Don't miss this. Because if you do everything right in a bad culture, it still doesn't work. If I drop a seed on this stage, you could come back next year to the River Valley Conference and it'll still be here as a seed. Why? It wasn't the seed's fault. It wasn't even how I put it down. It wasn't even what I it was where I planted it that made it not work. This is not a conducive culture for a seed to germinate and to grow. And so culture's important. I can't I I do two sessions on culture because, honestly, I think you can do the wrong thing in a good culture and have more success.”

“So they'll say things like, well, we wanna reach our city. And the next person says, man, we wanna help the poor. And the next person says, man, we want the presence of God. All those are good things, they're just not the same things. And the more you can clarify why we exist, The more you and not only clarify it, but add language to it that everyone can answer. So if you would come to Highlands, our church, one of the things that people say they notice first is that whether they talk to a staff member, volunteer, or member of the church, and you ask him, what is this church all about? They all not only say the same thing, but they say it in the same language.”

“it is God's will for my church to grow. It is. I'm just telling you. Go read Luke 15. Jesus gave three parables that said, I care about the lost. In fact, I am distracted by that which is lost. I will leave all the found things that I have to go look for those lost things. He is passionate about lost things, and you are too, by the way. If you ever lose something of value to you, you don't count what you have. When you're when you can't find your cell phone, you don't go, well, there's my couch. You don't do that.”

“and then get the church mobilized. People say the local church is the hope of the world. No, it's not. The local church that is mobilized is the hope of the world. Until we get everybody discipled and actually doing something that God has called them to do, that's when we win. We have to have a body that is functioning, connected, and getting the work done in Jesus' name. This is the assignment. So, it was back in 2011 that we we tried several different ways to communicate this to people with moderate success.”