VERTICAL CHURCH

A couple of months ago, I read "Vertical Church" by James MacDonald. He is the senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois. Just after I read the book, I also had the privilege of hearing him speak at Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. In short, I really appreciate what James wrote in "Vertical Church." It puts the emphasis, even in church, on how we are viewing and responding to our God. As I wait on God to put me back into the pastorate, there are many things in this book that have influenced my philosophy moving forward. It's not that these things are new; and yet, they are presented in such a way that makes sense as a whole. Let me share some of my favorite quotes with you:

Read This First (the introduction):
"We cannot survive spiritually without that corporate connection in heart, soul, mind, and strength with the One who made us That's what I mean by Vertical." - p.19

"The problem is you can't fake glory. You can't manufacture it, or manipulate it, or manifest it at will. Only God Himself can bring glory into a church." - p.21

Chapter 1: A Universal Longing: Transcendence
"Every discussion of the nature of man or meaning, or ministry, must begin with this reality: humans are unique among the living in that there is in the center of each of us a hunger for something that the experiences of this planet cannot satisfy - a quest for eternity." - p.40

"To experience the transcendent is to sense your smallness." - p.51

"While it is wonderfully true that God is loving, merciful, caring, and compassionate, we err when we downplay or reject preaching about transcendence, holiness, omniscience, or omnipresence." - p.54

Chapter 2: A Singular Provision: Glory
"God's provision for all that we need is His manifest presence with us." - p.70

"What we pastors and church leaders too often lose sight of is that the only thing that makes a church worth shouting about is God showing up in power and doing what we cannot do for ourselves." - p.75

"But do we come to church conscious that every action and motive promotes or discourages God's manifest presence? Every note, every spoken word, every attitude from every usher, every motive of every vocalist - all of it seen and known by a holy God whose desire is to manifest His presence among His people and is welcomed or spurned by us." - p.80

"He doesn't need us or our glorifying, but we need it desperately to displace our pride." - p.87

C.S. Lewis (quoted on p.87):
"Because God and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any touch with Him at all, you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy your whole life. God's trying to make you humble in order to make that moment possible: Trying to get you to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up in and are strutting about like the little idiots that we are."

More later...