While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will be up to, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.

In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.

When the pastor and his or her church have a vision, they will put their energy, time, money, and personnel into achieving it.

A church must grow larger and smaller at the same time. Larger through worship and smaller through small groups.

Our individual lives alone are not a sufficient witness. Our lives together as church communities are the confirming echo of our witness.

Spirit-led Jesus followers recognize that they are imperfect Christians working with other imperfect Christians to serve a perfect Christ. When we love and give to one another, then we grow as individuals and as the family of God.136

The least likely person you'll see in church is a single twentysomething male. He is as rare at church as a vegan at a steak house.

In solitude we discover that community is not a common ideology, but a response to a common call.

It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same

Now Ed and I operate by our first amendment to the Golden Rule, which is not "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," but "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them (instead of thinking they are just like you).

Most of us do not live especially holy lives, after all. We spend most of our time sitting in traffic, paying bills, and being irritated with one another. Yet every week we are invited to stop all of that for one hour at least. We are invited to participate in a great drama that has been going on without us for thousands of years, and one that will go on as long as there is a single player left standing.