Leading in New Cultural Realities, Part 2 - Efrem Smith

Efrem Smith is the senior pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and author of "The Hip Hop Church" and "Raising Up Young Heroes."

- The culture should not be the enemy, but it's also not to be fully embraced either. It's complex.

- The world is before us, and we have to decide if we will lead in it.

- It seems like the more diverse we get the more divided we are. We are in need of leaders who will speak, love, serve, navigate this multiccultural world to bring about healing, peace, empowerment, true biblical prosperity where the second class have an idea that there is a God who brings...hope...

- The increase in multi-cultural marriages and children mean a generation that will not live by the rigid race labels of the past. We can't sing "red and yellow, black and white" any more. That was a cute kiddie song, but we have to grow up folks. People aren't there anymore.

- We must step out, not as experts and the qualified, but as ones who need to have something within us crucified so that we might be able to lead.

- We need now to lean on something above the government systems of the earth. We need something more supernatural and bigger than just democracy and capitalism in order to engage this world that it might be transformed.

- I don't know nobody who loves across race like God who sent His only begotten Son.

- If you can't love across race, class, urban and suburban, you can't lead today. Profit margin is not going to help you alone.

- Tina Turner changed my life.

- It always makes me crazy when people say "God told me." What are you going to say after that? So, I always say "I think I heard..." just to even it out. I think I heard... God say...!

- We've been sitting in the church like racial economic disparities don't exist within us.

- This is no time leaders for empire building. We need a force of children of God who will go to the places where hurting people are. We get that by abiding in Christ's love.

- Sometimes we have to stop dreaming about church buildings and get a vision of people transformation.

- We must be loving, abiding, and confessing leaders.

- One of the best things a leader can do is say "my bad."

- I'm not a meteorologist, but I heard that when high pressure meets low pressure, that's when you get a storm. And I can't help but think that some of the [storms in Christianity today are] because of the high pressure of what God wants to do againt the low pressure of what we'd rather do.

- The church is the only place in the world where people can "legitimately" make the case that it's okay to limit themselves to people who look like them.

- I understand the reason for single-ethnic churches. But what if we actually looked at what caused the problem in the first place and saw each other as beyond red and yellow black and white and saw that race labels aren't really who we are? What if we gave people on earth a sneak preview of heaven?

- God wants to perfect something, and perfecting comes through pruning.

- Crazy deranged kids come in all colors and sizes. In the hip-hop community we don't need any more grown men with "lil" before their name.

- If Bill Hybels can be Dutch, I can be Irish, and I'm getting into it. I eat Lucky Charms for breakfast.

**This is the point where Efrem started really preaching, and it was beyond typing. Holy toledo. I'm ready to preach now...**