Pastoral Ministry Quotes

“Solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul. Isolation is what you crave when you neglect the first.”
― Wayne Cordeiro, Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion

“We don't forget that we are Christians. We forget that we are human, and that one oversight alone can debilitate the potential of our future.”
― Wayne Cordeiro, Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion

“You must read to lead. Reading feeds. It opens our souls to a long line of counselors.”
― Dave Harvey, Am I Called?: The Summons to Pastoral Ministry

“For every Gospel action, there is an opposite and devious demonic reaction. We see this in the book of Acts. It appears in church history. We experience it in our personal journeys.”
― Daniel Henderson

“Pastors and Bible teachers go about their work in communal settings, where they listen to as well as deliver sermons, hear as well as speak, and gain biblical insights from their parishioners as much as they pass them on.”
― Peter J. Leithart, Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture

“Once a seminary student asked to shadow me for two days to see what my life as a pastor was like. At the end, he said, "Oh my gosh, you're basically a person for a living.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

“If a church is good at making disciples it will be good at making leaders because in the end, a good spiritual formation plan will lead to an accelerated spiritual multiplication.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Next Steps For Leading a Missional Church

“Whereas the public means of grace (such as church services) will do a lot of good to other Christians, those of us who are pastors have to rely a lot more on the private means of grace.”
― Thomas K. Ascol

“Great leaders are teachable leaders.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Church Planting Landmines

“Our real problem is not the pervasiveness of the darkness but a failure of the light. Light always dispels darkness. The glorious light of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ is still sufficient and available to those who reject self-reliance and return to His plan for biblical leadership. This return can reignite the radiance of the Gospel in transforming power.”
― Daniel Henderson, Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church Through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

“Leaders are passionate learners. Leaders are always seeking ways to improve themselves by sharpening their skills. They fully embrace the fact that growing leaders lead growing organizations.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Spiritual Conversations: Creating and Sustaining Them Without Being a Jerk

“Missional leaders are comfortable in the own skin.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Next Steps For Leading a Missional Church

“If evangelism is really going to be a value that your church embraces, the church will have to embrace the changes that will take place when evangelism is activated in the church.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Spiritual Conversations: Creating and Sustaining Them Without Being a Jerk

“Leadership is simply a well applied energy burst. If a leader is going to let his energy get depleted through not important and urgent activities that distracts every ministry, then there will not be any energy left to counteract the evangelistic entropy that attacks every church and robs them of their evangelistic effectiveness.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Spiritual Conversations: Creating and Sustaining Them Without Being a Jerk

“When a leader is at their limit the last thing they want to hear is that they need to change even more. Maintaining good rhythms of rest, exercise and fun create more energy for a leader to be willing and open for change.”
― Gary Rohrmayer

“Missional leaders know that their church will only grow as large as its capacity to provide ongoing care through a network of small groups and ministry teams.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Next Steps For Leading a Missional Church

“No man is exempted from the subtle deception of doctrinal drift – the man of God expects this temptation.”
― Gary Rohrmayer

“Vision is capturing God's assignment”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Next Steps For Leading a Missional Church

“Our enemy attacks the conscience little by little seeking to wear us down and then wears out a leader's resolve to fight the good fight.”
― Gary Rohrmayer

“There is nothing better than to have a highly motivated team of leaders focused on than reaching those far from Christ. And yet statistics and our experience reveal that evangelism entropy can creep deep inside a new church within months of its first public service. The longer we are around new churches the more amazed we are at how quickly these mission-focused, vibrant new churches become old.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Church Planting Landmines

“An angry leader is a scared leader or a hurt leader or a frustrated leader but most of all they are a vulnerable leader.”
― Gary Rohrmayer

“There is nothing worse for a young convert than to be thrust into leadership without mentoring and ongoing coaching because the devil relishes these vulnerable souls.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Church Planting Landmines

“The prayer level of a church never rises any higher than the personal example and passion of the leaders. The quantity and quality of prayer in leadership meetings is the essential indicator of the amount of prayer that will eventually arise among the congregation.”
― Daniel Henderson, Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church Through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

“[R]eal prayer is not an excuse for laziness but, in fact, is one of the most arduous engagements I know of in ministry. Prayer is not a replacement for hard work but, in most cases, empowerment for even more fruitful work.”
― Daniel Henderson, Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church Through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

“A prayer culture is fueled by experience not explanation. A passion to seek the Lord in prayer is more caught than taught.”
― Daniel Henderson, Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church Through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

“As someone who has spent the last decade training young men and women for Christian service, I have been keen to help them see that the best kinds of ministry are, more often than not, long term and low key. I have tried to prepare them for a marathon, not a short, energetic sprint. In other words, to help them have a lifetime of sustainable sacrifice, rather than an energetic but brief ministry that quickly fades in exhaustion.”
― Christopher Ash, Zeal Without Burnout: Seven Keys to a Lifelong Ministry of Sustainable Sacrifice

“Don't just cry over your 10 or 20 member church. Sometimes, God gives you your future first. The ones you call little carry in them every possibility you desire of the future. God would send you leaders but they may come as weak men and women first. Don't be so 'gift' conscious that you fail to realize that certain things are results of growth.”
― Kingsley Opuwari Manuel

“Father, help me focus on my strengths and trust others to fill the gaps of my weaknesses”

Every leader knows the skills in which they excel. They also are aware of those tasks that they maintain a certain level of competence along with those duties they struggle in accomplishing. In my experience there are "want to’s" and the "have to’s" of leadership. The "want to’s" energize a leader and the "have to’s" zap the leader’s creativity and time. The quicker a leader can find those around them that will fill the gaps of their weaknesses, the more effective they will be in achieving God’s mission.”
― Gary Rohrmayer, Next Steps For Leading a Missional Church

“When discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it.”
― Jonathan Hayashi, Ordinary Radicals: A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship

“I regret the immaturity with which I approached the problems and tasks of the ministry but I do not regret the years devoted to the parish.”
― Reinhold Niebuhr, Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic