Methodists From The United States

"Sometimes the fruit of your steps of faith is measured not so much by what God does through you as by what God does in you."

"Across the board, almost every with-it church I've observed is virtually obsessed with reaching those who don't know Christ."

"It-owners know that setbacks can be setups for better things to come. They study their failures and learn from them."

"The it-ish understand: failure is a part of success."

"Failing often can help a ministry experience it. Being overly cautious can kill it."

"Without-it ministries can be filled with very sincere Bible-believing Christians; unfortunately, they're simply more concerned about themselves than the lost."

"As you seek God and he rekindles it in your heart, I believe he is going to speak to you."

"For the sake of those who don't know Christ, think big."

"As God blesses your ministry with it, remember that those without it tend to criticize those with it, especially when you do things differently."

"What obstacle are you facing? Ask God for breakthrough thinking. Don't think about small changes. Think radically."

"Ministries without it are usually the ones playing it safe, doing only what is sure to succeed."

"Don't let the rules of man stop you from following God. When he gives it to you, go with it."

"Limitations often reveal opportunities."

"Don't get tricked into trusting your spiritual bells and whistles or you might become too slick, lose your edge, then lose it."

"Passion creates motivation, which leads to innovation."

"Those with it recognize that God brings it. It is not found in the things the eye can see."

"Your greatest ministry innovation could come from your greatest limitation - if you have a sincere passion to reach and care for people."

"Don't put your faith in the innovations. Keep your faith in Christ."

"While many lament, "We don't have what it takes to make a difference," innovative leaders say, "God is our provider; we have more than enough.""

"Instead of whining, "We can't reach certain people," with-it people exclaim with faith, "We will find a way.""

"Have you hit an obstacle that appears impenetrable? Maybe God will guide you to see something that you couldn't have seen if he'd just removed the wall."

"With-it ministries are filled with people so passionate, they're driven to become innovative. They create opportunities."

"With increasing passion comes increasing creativity to reach people."

"Instead of saying, "It will never work," with-it people say, "What if this does work?""

"Whenever you're tempted to whine about what you don't have, remember that God has given you everything you need to do everything he wants you to do."

"The spark of passion ignites the fuel for innovation."

"Those without it can be two-faced. Those with it are true-faced. There is no substitute for being transparent and real. The more real we are, the more likely we'll experience it."

"If there is any group in the world that should be motivated to make improvements, reflecting God's creative nature, it should be Christians."

"As long as you're afraid of intimacy and spiritual partnership, you won't likely experience it. To have it, you have to share it with each other. Just as there's no I in team, there's no it in independence."

"When two parties compete, one loses. That's why in ministry, those who have it don't compete with one another; they work to complete one another."

"Reflecting God, innovative believers tend to have it. And it is borne out of their passion to please God, reach people, and help those in need."

"If you don't have something you think you need, maybe it's because God wants you to see something you've never seen."

"Here are a few questions to stir your vision: Why does your organization exist? What can your organization be the best in the world at? If you could do only one thing, what would it be? If you left your organization tomorrow, what would you hope would continue forever? What breaks your heart, keeps you awake at night, wrecks you?"

"There's a huge difference between a good idea and a God-inspired idea."

"Seek God. Hear from God. Receive his vision. Let it overwhelm you. Consume you. Burden you. Tell the vision. Cast the vision. Communicate the vision. And watch it spread."

"The best explanation I can give of what it is, is this: it is what God does through a rare combination of these qualities found in his people: Passion for his presence; A deep craving to reach the lost; Sincere integrity; Spirit-filled faith; Down-to-earth humility; Brokenness."

"The first-century church in Jerusalem clearly had it. And they didn't have any fancy accoutrements. So it can't possibly be stained-glass windows, hand-carved cherubs, custom silk tapestries, gold-inlaid hymnals, thousand-pipe organs, marble floors, mile-high steeples, hand-painted ceilings, mahogany pews, giant cast-iron bells, and a three-piece, thousand dollar suit. It doesn't stick any better to a young, hip, shaved-headed pastor with rimmed glasses, a goatee, and tattoos than it does to an older, stately gentleman in a robe. Nor is it spotlights and lasers, video production, satellite dishes, fog machines, shiny gauze backdrops, four-color glossy brochures, sexy billboards, loud "contemporary" music, free donuts, coffee shops, hip bookstores, break dancing or acrobatics, sermon series named after television shows, a retro-modern matching chair and table onstage, or blue jeans and Heelys. It is not being on television, being on the Internet, or being on book and magazine covers. It is real. It is genuine."

"Have you ever tasted stale popcorn? The only thing worse is stale vision. If a ministry loses the vision, it's only a matter of time before they lose what made them special in the first place. Without vision, the people will quickly lose it."

"Ministries that have it tend to be focused on a limited set of targets. They do a few things as if all eternity hinged on their results, and they do these things with godly excellence. Their vision is characterized by specificity. Selectivity. Exclusivity."

"If you've ever been part of a ministry that had it, you knew you were part of something special. In other words, you knew it when you saw it. And it was an awesome work of God that couldn't be contained, couldn't be harnessed, and couldn't be explained."

"Doing the wrong new things, things that usurp what God calls us to do, is dangerous. Focus tends to let it breathe. Lack of focus generally suffocates it."

"I believe that God makes it available to anyone who wants it. I believe he wants to give it to you and your ministry."

"When you increase your focus, you decrease your options. Good things are not necessarily God things."

"I rejoice that the reign of Christ is such, while it thrills the soul with emotions, and opens before the highest intellect the most boundless conceptions, we are left at the same time ready, though our hearts be thrilled, to have our hands filled for deeds of benevolence and love. The happiest moments may be the busiest moments."

"Wherever public worship has been established and regularly aintained, idolatry has vanished from the face of the earth. There is not now a temple to a heathen god where the word of God is read."

"If this be a happy new year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important, then, to feel our dependence upon Him!"

"Wherever God's word is circulated, it stirs the hearts of the people, it prepares for public morals. Circulate that word, and you find the tone of morals immediately changed. It is God speaking to man."

"Daniel Inouye came home a captain minus one arm on his discharge May 27, 1947. Along with the Distinguished Service Cross, he held a Bronze Star, Purple Heart with cluster, and twelve other medals and citations. His Distinguished Service Cross, awarded for the action in which he lost his arm, was upgraded to the Medal of Honor at the White House on June 21, 2000. President Clinton approved the Army's recommendation to upgrade twenty-one Distinguished Service Crosses awarded to Asian-Americans in World War II to Medals of Honor. In 1950, he graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in economics and government. In 1952 he graduated from George Washington University Law School, and in 1959 became Hawaii's first United States congressman when he was elected to the House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in 1962 and has served for more than forty years. He wed Margaret Shinobu Awamura on June 12, 1948. They have a son, Daniel Jr. An official apology for the government's wrongdoing was issued to Japanese-Americans by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. He also approved $20,000 in reparations for each internee."

"It was a terrible thing to even suggest this, but many of us in the regiment felt that this was the definitive battle, that we were expendable. That's why we were called up to save them. But we felt that, if we did well, then the curse would be taken away once and for all. And so, you can sense this in the men: When you go into a battle and they put on the bayonet, you know they mean business. So we meant business. When you put on a bayonet, that's do or die. Our motto was: Go for Broke, which is, I suppose, a slang phrase that young gamblers used to use back in Hawaii. Go for Broke means All the Way. This was a Shoot the Works battle. That means you put on the bayonet. You're going to get them no matter what the cost. Absolutely. The cost was heavy."

"There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself."