Several months ago in my quiet time the Lord laid the number “one thousand” on my heart. I began to wrestle with this number a tad, thinking that maybe it had to do with money. However, after more reading and praying I totally felt led to do two things…
#1 - Do a five part series of messages on Evangelism that REALLY challenged people, both religious and non-religious to look at eternity AND their relationship with Jesus.
#2 - Pray that during this series of messages that we will see over one thousand people give their lives to Christ at NewSpring.
I have to be honest here…I wrestled with months as to whether or not I should share that number. I thought, “What if a thousand do not respond—what if NO ONE responds—how silly is that going to look?”
BUT…as I have visited that morning with the Lord over and over I am confident that He placed it on my heart to ask for one thousand salvations this month…and I have been doing so every day since.
I know I say this a lot—but folks, I am PUMPED about these next five weeks at NewSpring. We have done several evangelistic messages—but never have we done a complete series of talks like this. I am praying we see God move in an incredible way.
As I said, the Lord has placed this on my heart…and now I am asking YOU TO PARTICIPATE in three ways!
#1 - PRAY!!! NewSpring—we need to pray like we have never prayed before. This past Sunday I asked each person in the congregation to commit to pray every single day this month that one thousand people will receive Christ…and now I am asking for you to do it again. There is NOTHING more powerful than a church that begins to pray for and work towards a common goal—especially when it matches with the heart of God!
#2 - INVITE!!! As of right now I believe there are between 5,000 and 6,000 names on the walls of our auditorium that people have written that need to receive Christ. And so if you have put a name on the wall—GET THEM HERE! I know that for some this will take you into a zone of uncomfortability—GO THERE! I say this often and I will say it again…MANY of your friends and family members are ONE INVITATION AWAY from coming to church, hearing about Jesus, receiving Him and having their life changed forever.
#3 - MAKE SOME ROOM!!! I know this is CRAZY…but 18 months ago we moved into a 2,500 seat sanctuary that we thought would hold our people for years—uh—we filled it up in less than a year and had to add a fourth service in January!
Statistics show that a first time visitor is most likely to attend one of our services at either 9:15 or 11:15…so, in order to free up some seats for them I am asking HUNDREDS of you to come to either our 4:15 or 6:00 service. Seriously…just by being willing to switch service times and giving up your seat you COULD BE participating in someone’s life being changed!
Yes, I know that ONE THOUSAND people seems like a lot—but that is less than 20% of the names of people we already have written down that we know need to receive Christ. Folks—God is BIG ENOUGH to save one thousand people—TRUST ME! (And if you don’t think He is—then hopefully you will be one of the ones who get saved during this time!)
NewSpring…these are EXCITING DAYS ahead of us. Sunday is going to be tense…different…creative…and unforgettable! See you then!