A biography for John Ortberghasn’t been written yet.
“Sloth is the failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done - like the kamikaze pilot who flew seventeen missions.”
“The ministry of bearing with one another is more than simply tolerating difficult people. It is also learning to hear God speak through them.”
“Universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard all began as Jesus-inspired efforts to love God with all ones' mind.”
“Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.”
“What influences our behavior, and what our level of responsibility is, are very complex issues. And anytime we try to make this simplistic, we don't serve people well.”
“Authority can be faked. That's why impersonating a police officer is a crime. Sometimes the outward appearances of authority can be deceiving.”
“Jesus' life as a foot-washing servant would eventually lead to the adoption of humility as a widely admired virtue.”
“The New Testament doesn't present Jesus as a single man to cover up his humanity. It presents him as a single man because... he was a single man.”
“When we live in the love of God, we begin to pay attention to people the way God pays attention to us.”
“No one wants pain. Not even long-time, mature Christians who want to grow. We will always find ways to avoid pain. Pain itself is a bad thing.”
“Gratitude is what we radiate when we experience grace, and the soul was made to run on grace the way a 747 runs on rocket fuel.”
“In the context of worship, amusement is a waste of time and a waste of life, and therefore a form of sin.”
“People cheer the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible - they just don't actually read the Bible.”
“My main job is to live with deep contentment, joy, and confidence in my everyday experience of life with God. Everything else is job number two.”
“I don't have a problem with delegation. I love to delegate. I am either lazy enough, or busy enough, or trusting enough, or congenial enough, that the notion leaving tasks in someone else's lap doesn't just sound wise to me, it sounds attractive.”
“If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices.”
“We do not need answers or formulas to minister in crisis.”
“I am struck by how quickly I am prone to judgmentalism.”
“When I teach the formal curriculum, I have the chance to think about it ahead of time. I can rehearse it. I can illustrate it with self-deprecating humor and humble-sounding personal disclosure. I can try to make it comes out just right.”
“Churches need to figure out how they will address the spiritual lives of their staffs and leadership teams.”