This picture is of Benny (worship pastor), Bob (care elder), and Mike (worship elder) waiting for the rest of us who were stuck in traffic to show up. Robert (adult discipleship elder) was taking the picture. Soon after this picture was taken we were all physically hurting from laughing so hard at Jeff Foxworthy. He attends Northpoint Community Church, which sponsored the conference.
It has been over a week now and I am still processing the last message Andy Stanley brought at the drive conference. You can get the notes from their website by clicking here. He gave five quotes and expanded on how they are impacting him. He also offered a practical takeaway. I am going to post each of his quotes and takeaway along with other notes I took and the way I am processing this information.
Quote #1: “To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.” Craig Groeschel
TAKEAWAY: Become preoccupied with who you haven’t reached, as opposed to those you are trying to keep.
People who do not know Christ will not call the church or show up to a meeting to complain about how the church is not reaching them with the Gospel. They will just walk away from the greatest news they’ve never heard.
Andy had a girl in
My Thoughts: I must not allow those who know Christ to miss out on reaching someone because they are too busy with programs they think they want and have always had. There is no greater joy and means of spiritual growth than reaching someone for Christ. There is nothing that changes the world and has a greater eternal impact than evangelism.
Within a 20 minute drive of Living Hope there are said to be over 60,000 who will not be in church this week. How can we help those people know the love of God revealed in His Son Jesus Christ? How can we help them get to God and grow in Christ through the serving and learning that takes place in the community of believers?
We can share our hope and the journey we are on with Jesus. The church can provide programs and environments that make it easy for those far from God to get to know Him and receive Him as savior and lord. Let’s pray and work toward that end.
8 comments:
I do not completely agree with you, Pastor Jason. First of all, I do not think a Church can have a predispotion to anything other than the glory of God. You should not be preoccupied with anything but Jesus.
Yes, we as believers need to be outward focused in reaching the lost; however, we (as a Church) cannot choose to only be evangelists. Nor can we only serve our Body of Believers. It has got to be a combination.
Look at Jesus...in His earthly ministry, He lived, walked, and served among the prostitutes, tax collectors, fisherman, and "the nobodies" of His day. The untouchables...the lost. BUT!...at the same time, He choose to disciple and invest in the Body that surrendered their lives to Him. And not only to the 12 disciples, but the entire group (i.e. His "congregation") of faithful followers. They did not fully understand His teachings, but that is why the disciples were called and trained. His followers, and, for example, your members, have to be strong and healthy in order to be effective in sowing and serving.
Then in Acts we see how Jesus's teachings during His ministry on this earth and the leadership He designed created a springboard for hundreds and thousands to come to faith. His previously misunderstood lessons and parables now became clear to His followers. Thus, after the Holy Spirit entered their lives and they grew in their faith, they could boldly and successfully share the story of Jesus and His life and grace.
Jesus was outward focused, but at the same time, He occupied His time with equipping and sustaining His disciples and followers. You as a leader of your church, and me as a follower of Jesus, need to seek to be like Christ in all things. Not seek our own plans, and not even wholeheartily agree with what a wonderful speaker like Andy Stanley "takes away." We CANNOT be preoccupied with outreach or inreach alone....it has got to be full commitment to both for the Body to function and the lost to be reached.
I do not completely agree with you, Pastor Jason. First of all, I do not think a Church can have a predispotion to anything other than the glory of God. You should not be preoccupied with anything but Jesus.
Yes, we as believers need to be outward focused in reaching the lost; however, we (as a Church) cannot choose to only be evangelists. Nor can we only serve our Body of Believers. It has got to be a combination.
Look at Jesus...in His earthly ministry, He lived, walked, and served among the prostitutes, tax collectors, fisherman, and "the nobodies" of His day. The untouchables...the lost. BUT!...at the same time, He choose to disciple and invest in the Body that surrendered their lives to Him. And not only to the 12 disciples, but the entire group (i.e. His "congregation") of faithful followers. They did not fully understand His teachings, but that is why the disciples were called and trained. His followers, and, for example, your members, have to be strong and healthy in order to be effective in sowing and serving.
Then in Acts we see how Jesus's teachings during His ministry on this earth and the leadership He designed created a springboard for hundreds and thousands to come to faith. His previously misunderstood lessons and parables now became clear to His followers. Thus, after the Holy Spirit entered their lives and they grew in their faith, they could boldly and successfully share the story of Jesus and His life and grace.
Jesus was outward focused, but at the same time, He occupied His time with equipping and sustaining His disciples and followers. You as a leader of your church, and me as a follower of Jesus, need to seek to be like Christ in all things. Not seek our own plans, and not even wholeheartily agree with what a wonderful speaker like Andy Stanley "takes away." We CANNOT be preoccupied with outreach or inreach alone....it has got to be full commitment to both for the Body to function and the lost to be reached.
The role of the church is dual... to both go outward, and to serve inward. We are taught that our families, our homes, are our first mission field. It can be no less with our churches. We must "fill the vessels" of the membership, so they can go out and "pour the love of Christ" on the surrounding world. We go to church to learn how to accomplish what Christ would have us do. We are revitalized by the fellowship, the education, the music. Then we go. If the church does not fulfill the purpose of preparing it's own, it will be unable accomplish its dual purpose of mission service to the rest of the world, both local and abroad. We can never become a church society about "the numbers" and forget that the numbers represent souls that need tending... even those souls that have already drawn close to the Lord.
This is great dialog.
I'm sorry I posted the same comment twice. I'm not sure how I did that and I don't know how to remove one of them. Oh, well.
Anyway, I agree with both of you. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. What I think Andy is saying is that we need to focus on giving God glory and growing the redeemed in grace by focusing on the end result of filling the earth with His praise. We do this by helping more people get to God through faith in Christ and helping them grow in Christ and be able to give what God has given them to others.
What I hear Andy saying is what you are both saying, but his focus is on the method of exalting Christ - reaching the lost so that more are praising Him and preparing the redeemed to go into the world and announce His love and light.
I understand that you agree with our comments, Pastor Jason, but you still rephrased the some issue that we disagree with....outward focus.
Once people come to faith in the Lord, they have to be fed and discipled for the rest of their days on earth. Complacency is a sin of comfort. It's what the Chinese girl in Andy's story was asking about...marginal Christians. They are everywhere in our churches today, because we as leaders are not feeding the Body in a way that is effective and complete.
Yes, I believe one HUGE way to grow in your walk with the Lord is to share His love with others. But probably 80% or more of our church members will not do that without guidance. People cannot and will not effectively share their faith unless they understand the Christian doctrines and fundamental principles that Jesus built His life and ministry upon (grace, mercy, redemption, the Bible, sin, etc.). The average American believer does not attend seminary or take part in religious courses in college to delve into such theology. It is the Church's job to establish effective and glorifying ministries to equip and support it's faithful and growing members. High schools, college campuses, work environments...our everyday spheres of influence are ripe unto harvest, but the average Sunday morning pew in my church and yours is full of thirsty souls ready to be fed by the Lord, and to glorify and praise His name. May we support them and draw them into a loving and growing walk with our Savior so that they can serve and share their faith in the day to day. Are all your members recieving what they need to be effective? We all have room to grow.
I restate my previous statement, it's inward AND outward. We have got to be fully committed to outreach and inreach for the Body to function and the lost to be reached. Period.
forGod'sglory,
I still think we are saying the same thing. The goal is God's glory being give and enjoyed by the redeemed as they grow in and share the grace God has given them. By seeking to spread God's glory they will have to understand His grace and goodness. This will grow them and others will hear.
It is a both/and and the purpose is God's glory enjoyed by His followers living it it and sharing it.
We are not saying the same thing though. The way you state your opinion, it still sounds like you mean for believers to grow predominately (or only) by sharing their faith (i.e. outward focus). If that is the case, why do we need Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and small groups in church communities? Why do we need pastors? Why not just simply live our lives with a passion for Christ on our own accord, study His Word with our own understanding, and share our personal beliefs and opinions with others?
Why...? Because that is not how Jesus designed it.
He designed and created us for community and fellowship, for study and accountability. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," Proverbs 27:17. Without being taught about His grace and goodness, believers (new and old alike) will not spread God's glory to the lost. They MUST be fed and supported (i.e. inward focus) by a Body of believers. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching," Hebrews 10:25.
The Church is designed to support, encourage, meet together, teach, and equip believers, AND/THEN send them out as fully prepared messengers to stand firm and secure in Christ.
In your initial blog post on this topic, your second to last sentence says it all...almost. "The church can provide programs and environments that make it easy for those far from God to get to know Him and receive Him as Savior and Lord." That is perfectly great and Biblical; however, you CANNOT neglect those who are already believers amongst your Body (the faithful, the serving, the concerned, and those behind the scenes). We all need safe and loving environments where we can be challenged and equipped through Godly programs...whether we have been a Christian for one week, 3 months, or 25 years. For training, teaching, and equipping the Body to live a life sacrificed to our God, we have to serve the whole body...not one specific sphere, team, or clique. Not only the ones we have a passion for, but the ones Jesus died for...every man, woman, youth, and child! Listen to the cries of your city and congregation...both the lost, the seeking, the visitors, and the the ones on your membership roll. For God's glory, Pastor Jason, not for anything else.
Absolutely, we need to gather to worship the living God and grow in our understanding of grace, but we should not stop there. We must be focused on taking God's glory to the nations. Sundays should prepare us to do that.
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