“I’ve always been a rule follower. When they said not to chew gum, I didn’t chew gum. When they said not to use your cellphone, I didn’t use my cellphone. But today, in the spirit of defying expectations, and for perhaps the last time at this podium, I say..."
'"Many people expect a pastor like me—a 29-year-old with enough piercings and tattoos to make them think I might have an “in” with my peers but not enough to totally freak them out—to know how to fix it, or even to be a draw.'
"It’s what we emphasize, as leaders, as Christians, as the Church: speed, efficiency, acting. These are not bad qualities in and of themselves, but solely emphasized they dry up the human spirit and turn us into stressed-out versions of our intended selves."
"I took a closer look around me and noticed we stood among the dead. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of the dead... the stench hit me. Vultures descended. And as the wind kicked up, my eyes watered from the smell."
"At 7:24 the doctors declared him dead. And as I lay next to my children at night listening to my daughter sob uncontrollably because she misses her dad so much, I am not thinking about the trendiness of a church."
"In the midst of my disappointment over missing Resurrection Sunday services, I felt the Lord very clearly and strongly speak to my heart. I can hear it just as clear in my memory now..."
