Brandon Ives

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is, an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo

"Our postmodern world is tired of words. It wants real. Real is everything. Real is convincing."
- Robert Lewis

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing."
- Albert Schweitzer

"Turning the face of the church outward, giving its resources away, blessing the community, unleashing the gifts of laypeople to serve--this is what our living God desires for his church."
- Robert Lewis

If you cut off a spider's head, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world. Check out this book.

www.starfishandspider.com

www.coolpeoplecare.org has a new video out explaining a little more about there mission...

Check it out here

At the heart of Houston's vision of the Christian life is a relationship with God. But in our current age—an age when technology often supersedes or distorts human relationships and leaves many of us deeply lonely—we have trouble remembering how to be intimate with an Other. Houston usefully translates Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's notion of ethics into an evangelical-friendly idiom: Ethics is about living in the presence of another person. Therefore, what the Christian says to God is not "Here are all the things I think or feel about you," but "Here I am; relate to me."

Read More Here

"I want to be loyal to America as a nation, but my loyalty ultimately belongs to Jesus. I respect America and want to serve American interests, but if those interests run contrary to serving Jesus Christ, then in fact I must stand against my nation."

- Tony Campolo (Quoted by the Washington Times)

The spiritual discipline of silence should be used far more than it is by pastors. How many great church fathers took vows of silence? Many did. And did they have so little to say? So many people fail to see the value of this practice. What if these church fathers had continued to speak? What great voices would not have emerged?
As a pastor, one of my great fears is exposed by the silence of my congregation while I speak. What great peice of wisdom am I muffling? What insight do I cover up with my ignorance? Silence should be practiced daily, most often when you are not alone...