John Ortberg
John Ortberg
John Ortberg, Jr.is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California, an evangelical church with more than 4,000 members. Ortberg has published many books including the 2008 ECPA Christian Book Award winner When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, and the 2002 Christianity Today Book Award winner If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. Another of his publications,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth5 May 1957
CountryUnited States of America
It's better to have the faith to embrace reality with all its pain than to cling to the false comfort of a painless fantasy.
The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God's constant presence with 'the real me.' Jesus lived his everyday life in conscious awareness of his Father.
In reality, each thought we have carries with it a little spiritual power, a tug toward or away from God. No thought is purely neutral.
sometimes we do not realize how much we have to be grateful for until it is threatened.
Real question is not who was this man (Jesus), but who is this man?
In community, we discover who we really are and how much transformation we still require. This is why I am irrevocably committed to small groups. Through them, we can accomplish our God-entrusted work to transform human beings.
I know that those of us who go into church work are to regard ourselves as servants, are to offer our lives as a gift.
I need an inspiration that is grounded in reality while thoroughly transcendent.
I'm not sure ministry can ever have the urgency it requires if it is not aware of evil, both externally and internally.
Skill at helping people grow spiritually, like skill at playing chess, depends on understanding and valuing differences.
Evil exists. Evil is real. One of the hallmarks of evil is that it seeks to convince its victims that it exists 'out there.'
We all want to feel spiritually vigorous, and we hurt when we don't. This pain is intensified for people who lead church ministries.
Far more books get written about how to get more people in your church than how to get the people already in your church to have more humility and sincere love.
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.