Summary & Intro
Dan Pratt – Christ-follower, Husband of 25 years, Dad of 3 kids (2 sons, 1 daughter), Youth Pastor for 23 years, All-around-crazy-fun-silly-guy who loves Jesus and people. Hails from Canton, Michigan (Detroit-metro area).
Recap & Synopsis
The following notes are quotes from Dan and I. Use them freely and widely, but please offer credit where credit is due. Thanks.
“Originally I thought I was a Pratt. So my family was a big part of my identity when I was a kid.”
“My first searching for identity as a child was through my family connections.”
“First was my family. Second was my culture or geography.”
“Michigan people are different…different in a different way.”
“You know the phrase ‘Bless their heart’? That’s ‘different in a different way’. That’s so safe.” (Jonathan)
“Family went away. Geography went away. I kind of rebuilt my identity around my new setting.”
“I felt kind of like a mut. I didn’t really belong anywhere.”
“Then I started searching for my identity in my activity. I was a singer, athlete, actor.”
“In my teen years I kind of became addicted to affirmation. One person saying something negative would kind of tear my world down.”
“It was painful as a kid but now I look back and see it as providential, especially now that I’m a youth pastor.”
“As a Junior in High School, I was cast as Jesus Christ in this school play.”
“I was introduced to the person of Jesus through this really different way. I was moved and touched by the character of Christ and his different teachings.”
“I did a little research on this guy.”
“I met a youth pastor there who was really odd, which seems to be a requirement for being a youth pastor.”
“The thing that struck me about this guy was he loved me whether I was a Christian or not.”
“My previous experience was that love was a give-take, ‘if you do this I will do that’ kind of deal. Especially in my family.”
“I met Christ in camp and I really found out who I was supposed to be. Although it continues to evolve.”
“God used these people to change my life. My youth pastor kept pointing me back to anything good I saw in him was because of what God was doing in his life.”
“It’s an ongoing identity story. Once you give your life to Christ, the rest of your life becomes a process of kind of unbecoming and allow God to restore who you truly are.”
“The fact of God is necessary for the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground for existence.” – A.W. Tozer
“My best advice would be, the more I’ve stopped thinking about myself and started thinking about who Christ is, the person of Jesus Christ, the more I understand who I am and my identity in Christ.”
“Basically what you’re saying is if we truly want to know who we are we have to look outside of ourselves.” (Jonathan)
“That is incredibly radical, because we are taught from birth that in order to find yourself you look within.” (Jonathan)
“The key to discovering your identity is to stop asking that question and is to start asking the question, ‘who is the person of Jesus Christ?’ The more you understand God’s character the more you understand who you are suppose to be like.”
Brennan Manning’s book, The Furious Longing of God
“C.S. Lewis said, ‘we need to be reminded more than instructed.'” – Mark Batterson,
