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“When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting” - St. Jerome

"All of us are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts." - Daniel Moynihan, former U.S. senator

"On cable TV they have a weather channel – 24 hours of weather. We had something like that where I grew up. We called it a window." - Dan Spencer

"I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much." - Mother Theresa

Only about 50 religious ministries existed in the workplace in the early 1990s. There are more than 900 currently. - Source: USA Today

"A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men." - English proverb

"It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference." - Tom Brokaw

During the year ending in September 2006 about 30.1 percent of women and 23.0 percent of men did volunteer work. People who were between the ages of 35 to 54 were the most likely age group to volunteer (31.2 percent), and people in their 20s were the least likely (17.8) percent. The age group with the largest decline in volunteerism from 2005 to 2006 was high school students (33.5 to 28.8 percent). - Source: U.S. Department of Labor

"God has someone for each ministry he initiates, so don't force pieces into the wrong slots by not doing your homework. Guard yourself from the temptation to fill a position with a warm body."  - Wayne Cordeiro, Doing Church as a Team (Regal, 2004)

"Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. ... It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right." - Peter Parker in Spiderman 3

"In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering." - Howard Hendricks

"The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose." - C.S. Lewis

There are more than 2.35 million Muslims in the United States. Two-thirds of the adult Muslims in the United States were born overseas. - Source: Time magazine (June 4, 2007)

"If a man does not do the will of God, as God requires it of him, step by step, and day by day, his belief is only thrown away. While we are fighting for our creeds, we are wasting the moments that are flying away. I pray [to] God, he will never allow us to waste another moment fighting for a creed." - C. Campbell Morgan, from (Baker, 2007)

"Men, our children are more important than our work. They are more important than our days on the golf course or hours in front of the television. The legacy we leave is not how much money we earned or what level of status we received. The legacy we leave is our children. Take delight in them. Have joy in them. Laugh with them." - Thom S. Rainer, from Raising Dad (B & H Publishing, 2007)
 

"Arrogance and rudeness are training wheels on the bicycle of life - for weak people who cannot keep their balance without them." - Laura Teresa Marquez

"The secret to having everything you want out of life is the realization that you really don't want most of the things you think you want." - Bo Bennett

In 1965 47-year-old Francois Raffray made a deal with then 90-year-old Jeanne Calment. He agreed to pay her $500 a month for the rest of her life in exchange for her condo when she died. He paid her that sum for the next 30 years until he died at age 77 in 1995. In all Francois paid more than three times the market value for the condo. She died two years later at age 122, the longest living person in modern history. - Source: Wikipedia & The International Herald Tribune

"Make no mistake about it, this drama and this Kingdom's agenda is at the center of the meaning of cosmic history and your own individual story. Like a grand conductor who calls in the flutes at just the right time, your Father has brought you into the Cosmic Symphony at your unique place in time and space so you can be a vibrant outpost in your sphere of influence. In short, you are here to be an apprentice of the Lord Jesus to learn how to live your life well as part of God's broader purposes. This is your calling, this is your destiny, this is your only chance to have a life of genuine, full human flourishing." - J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle (Zondervan, 2007)

"The more I practice, the luckier I get." - Jerry Barber

"We trust, not because a God exists, but because this God exists." - C.S. Lewis

"God intervenes when we intercede." - Tim Wilkins, founder of Cross Ministry

"Information without application is hallucination." - Kenny Luck, men's pastor at Saddleback Church

"A church's location or denomination will appeal to the intellect, but its appearance will appeal to the heart. The condition of the building, the landscaping, and the signs (or lack thereof) can make a difference between a church that welcomes visitors and one that is ignored. Curb appeal is not about tricks; it's about removing barriers that discourage people from coming inside your church where they can experience your ministry." - Jennifer Schuchmann, in The Church Answer Book (Tyndale, 2006)

According to a recent survey 47 percent of terminal cancer patients say their spiritual needs are not being met by their religious community. - Source: Christianitytoday.com

 "Just as clear vision creates energy, increased ownership, and provides focus, it can also help churches maintain momentum and effectiveness during the critical process of passing the baton from one leadership team to the next." - Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership (Zondervan, 2002)

"No matter how long it lasts, our time as a leader is short - too short to ignore the need for training new leaders for tomorrow." - Men in Leadership: Daily Devotions to Guide Today's Leading Men (B & H Publishing, 1999)

In a recent survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, clergy ranked first among 198 different professions in job satisfaction. According to the survey, 87 percent were very satisfied with their jobs - as compared with 47 percent of the average population. - Source: Chicago Tribune (April 17, 2007)

"Great men and women, accomplished artists, gifted leaders - I observe - who are confident about their strengths are equally comfortable admitting their weaknesses. In fact, show me an expert willing to say, 'I don't know,' and I'll show you a constituency who trusts what she does know." - Mark DeMoss, The Little Red Book of Wisdom (Thomas Nelson, 2006)

"Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations." - Charles Francis Richter

"Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone higher, that is all - out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that sin cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like his glorious body. I was born in the flesh in 1837; I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die; that which is born of the Spirit will live forever." - D.L. Moody

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives." - A. Sachs

Anna Jarvis, the leader of the early 20th century movement to make Mother's Day a national holiday, later fought against the holiday. She felt the day had become over-commercialized. In fact, she was so frustrated that most people sent greeting cards on the holiday that she once called the cards, "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." Jarvis and her sister spent their family inheritance fighting against the holiday. They both died in poverty. - Source: Wikipedia.com

"I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening." - Larry King

Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson's recent book, Comeback Churches, focuses on 324 churches that have showed significant recent growth after a period of plateau. According to the book the majority of these "Comeback Churches" raised their membership expectations as part of their turnaround. Only one of these 324 churches reported lowering membership standards. - Source: Ed Stetzer & Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches (B & H Publishing, 2007)

"Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage of your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you." - Fran Lebowitz

"Many church leaders decry the decline of biblical literacy and knowledge among the younger generations. Rightly so; many teenagers don't even know what they believe, or why. But the leaders are pointing fingers at the wrong culprits. The debate shouldn't be between entertainment versus biblical education. We ought to be discussing (loudly and openly) the difference between ineffective instruction and truly life-changing instruction." - Jeff White, Holy Wow: Boost Your Youth Ministry Creativity (Group, 2004)

"I try not to make a big soap opera out of the shark attack. I would rather focus on what God has allowed me to do in picking up the pieces of my old life and adjusting to parts that are new and different for me. Most of all, I want to use my story as a way to tell people about God's story. It seems like he has given me the attention of the world for a moment, and I had better take advantage of it while I can." - Bethany Hamilton, teenage surfer who lost an arm to a shark, Soul Surfer (Pocket Books, 2004)

"Busyness does not equal effectiveness." - Doug Fields, What Matters Most (Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2006)