EXTRAORDINARY MINISTRY

'I want to redefine extraordinary. I don't think it is wrong for church planters and church revitalizers to long for an extraordinary ministry. After all, we serve an extraordinary God who has procured an extraordinary salvation by extraordinary means. We should expect extraordinary things to happen when we serve him. Yet we need to come to grips with the fact that the extraordinary thinsg that God does may not be immediately and outwardly extraordinary in the eyes of other people.

What should we count as God's extraordinary work? It's not a stadium-sized building, a multi-million dollar budget, or satellite feeds to multiple venues. That's how the world measures and acheives extraordinary. Rather, it's extraordinary when God converts our neighbors, coworkers, children, friends, and family. It's extraordinary when proud, angry, selfish people have their hearts changed by the gospel. It's exraordinary when new churches selflessly invest their time, money, and prayes to establish and multiply even newer congregations. It's extraordinary when marriages are restorted and cultural predudices give way to unity in the gospel of Christ. It's extraordinary whenever God uses "normal" pastors and church planters, faithful men with ordinary gifts and talents, to do all this work.'

Mike McKinley, Church Planting is For Wimps, p.110.

TRUE MASCULINITY

'...being a real man means being responsible, dependable, humble, and strong. It means pouring yourself out for your wife and kids. It means walking closely with Christ and taking care of people in need. Seriously, who cares about what kind of clothes a guy wears? Who cares what kind of car he drives? What could possibly be more irrelevant? I have guys in my church who are loud, big, and dedicated to mixed martial arts and beer. And I have guys who are soft-spoken, cerebral, and oblivious to sports and cars. Guess who are more of a headache for me as a pastor? And guess who are more reliable, faithful, dependable, and better husbands and fathers? I'm not convinced that the way to raise up men in my church is run around like some pro-Jesus hybrid of Jesus "The Toolman" Taylor and Steve McQueen. Instead, men need to be taught, trained, and challenged and then set loose to serve God with their individual personalities and temperaments.'

Mike McKinley, Church Planting is For Wimps, p.102.