Thoughts from the 2nd Session of Triennial

The following are some quotes from Francis Chan's message this morning at the Triennial Conference that I though were profound.  They lack context, of course, but they're still good thoughts that can spur more thinking.

"Younger people want to see older people whose lives make sense in the light of scripture."

"There’s a generation of people that would love to be led by older people.  They just want to see the real thing.  They want to see someone that’s being led by faith.

"Do we really believe that we’re open to God’s will?  To anything God wants?  Are you really, 'Here am I, send me'?"

"I don’t want to say, or sing in a song that I would go anywhere for him.  I want to really mean it."

"You don't want to know God's will.  You’d rather go your own way.  You don’t want to know what God wants you to do, because at the end of your life, when you stand before God, he will say, 'Here’s what I really wanted you to do.'  And you can say, 'Well, I didn’t know that.'"

"I get confronted in the church whenever I say to do anything that I see as being remotely biblical."

"People don’t think biblically. They compare to what everyone else is doing.  Not to what the people in scripture are doing."

"We have to make sure we don’t let people talk us out of things anymore.  Church people often talk us out of what God has called us to do."

"If we believe in eternity, we have to let things go."

"What if you give everything away and you end up starving to death?  Well, let’s say we starved to death.  What an awesome way to come into the kingdom of God!"

"God promised that if we seek his kingdom first, all those things would be taken care of.  Do we believe that or not?"

"Most of us are more concerned about our standard of living than we are about other people actually living."

"How do you make decisions?  I picture myself before God, and I try to think, 'Ok, if I’m standing in his presence, based on everything I know of him, which way does he want me to go?'"

"God wants unbelievers to be blown away by how much people in the church love each other."

"Why would people follow me unless they see that I’ve got a connection with God that they don’t have?  I’d follow Paul.  I’d follow Moses.  I’d follow Elijah.  Would I follow you?"

"I want people to know that God speaks through me, whether they believe it or not.  I want them to say, 'That guy’s the real thing.  He knows the Lord.  God’s presence is with him.'  It doesn’t matter if they believe it or not, as long as they know that I’ve got a connection with God."

"If I could get a transcript of your prayers from the last week, what would I see is the main thing you asked for?  Would it be the presence of God?  To see his beauty?"

"70% of kids who grow up in the church leave when they turn 18.  Could it be because they’ve never seen the supernatural in their parents?  Why would your kids keep following?"

All I want for when my daughter turns 18 is to look her in the eye and say, 'You know that God was with your dad.'"