New Things on the Horizon

Amy and I met with Pastor Shawn at Crosspointe Church in Ada, OK yesterday. It was a great time of dreaming, strategizing, and planning. God has really birthed a spirit of outreach into the hearts of the leadership at our church and in Amy and myself as well. Amy and I are going to be heading up the outreach ministry at our church helping out in planning and implementing ideas to serve our community.

God has called us to be His light in a dark world and the best way we can do that is by loving people with no strings attached. The people in our community need to know that we love them and are here to serve them, even if they never make a decision for Christ. Don't get me wrong, salvation is the end result that we pray for everyone in Ada, but the people around us have been sold a bill of goods so many times that they can smell a bait-and-switch a mile away. Many times as Christians we have served people for the sole purpose that they become saved because of what we did for them. But if they never make that decision will you still love them? I believe that when Jesus served the multitude by feeding the 5,000 that several of those in the crowd never made Jesus their Savior. But did that keep Jesus from loving them?

Many times we've decided that church is what happens within the walls of our building for a few hours on Sunday and if we're lucky another hour on Wednesday. But that is totally not biblical. Acts shows us that the Church was the followers of Christ sharing life together and then ALL the people saw the love of God in them and several thousand were added to their numbers. What would happen if we took the initiative to  take the love of God into our community for the sole purpose of serving the hurting people around us? What would happen if the Church became the number one community service organization in your city?

I believe that your church would explode with exponential growth, as the people in your community really see what a Christ follower is all about. And if they never make a decision to follow Jesus, then at the very least we are obeying Jesus by feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and clothing the naked. Wow! What an amazing thing obedience can bring about in our lives.

Get out into your community today. Serve those around you. Show them the love of God even in the smallest random acts of kindness. Open a door for someone at the grocery store. Take someones shopping cart back to the store for them. Do something...

Go beyond the walls!