Flickering Lamps, by Richard Blackaby

When I was at the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis I had the opportunity to attend the North American Mission Board's Replanting Conference.  Richard Blackaby was the guest speaker on Saturday Night, and they gave out copies of his book "Flickering Lamps." As I understand it this was written to encourage those in church revitalization and replanting.  As the majority of churches in North America are plateaued or declining, Blackaby tells some of the story of his dad, author Henry Blackaby, and the challenges they faced as Henry moved the family to Canada to pastor a small run down church.  They moved to Faith Baptist Church, that had a for sale sign out front!  Some faith!  It's a hopeful and encouraging story that is short on how-to's and long on Jesus and the Spirit.  I think every church lead would be encouraged by this book, and will be drawn close to Christ because of it.  Below are a few quotes that I pulled out.


Jesus is the one who closes churches, not the world.

The key's to glorifying God are first to love God, and second, to love God in God's way.

Any church that is not exalting Christ by it behavior has lost it's reason to exist.  

It's arrogant to assume that God seeks to be glorified, to make disciples of all nations, yet he left the local church to figure out the details.  

When you are suffering decline, you can't afford the consequences of enlisting ineffective leaders.  

A church is in a precarious position when the phrase "we can't afford to" is spoken more than "God is leading us to."

A church's measure of success is the glory it brings to God.  

The land is littered with churches that have been torn apart because people treated the church as if it belonged to them rather than to God.  

The church is not called to do good things, but God things.