I danced in my kitchen this morning…
Seriously—while the majority of the people in this part of the country were sleeping (5:30 AM) I was dancing.
NO—Lucretia wasn’t in the kitchen dancing with me…the only reason she would be out of bed at 5:30 is if the house were on fire…and even then only if the fire were really hot!!!
It was just me—dancing…AND clapping…and wanting to shout…but I didn’t because I didn’t want to wake ‘Cretia.
So why was I dancing?
Simple—there was a text message on my phone from a staff member that simply said, “Just wanted you to know that Sara accepted Christ tonight!”
WOW—I am nearly in tears as I write this. Many of you have NO IDEA how much this means to me. I, along with several staff members have been praying for Sara to accept Christ for years…and it happened last night…and I found out this morning…and even though I have Baptist roots—I danced!!!
There is a myth that goes along with a large church…and that myth is that the pastor is impersonal and does not care about the people…all he cares about is numbers. And—just to be honest—that is a lie from the pit of hell.
Every pastor of every large church that I know LOVES PEOPLE…and they are consistently inviting people to church and sharing their faith. I can tell you of individual people that have came to this church and accepted Christ that God used me in getting them here…and I can’t get over it each time it happens.
But taking it a step further…numbers represent people—and although I do not know each person—they MATTER. Each person that accepted Christ a few weeks ago…that was somebody’s mother, somebody’s father, or son, or friend…or co-worker. THEY MATTER…and to the person or the church that says that numbers do not matter I would simply recommend reading your Bible!!!!
I can’t get over seeing individual people getting connected to Christ…it jazzes me up…it’s why I do what I do! People matter to God—and the church that is not concerned about people meeting Jesus needs to shut the doors or either sell their building to a restaurant—at least that way the people who come into that establishment will receive some type of nourishment.
People meeting Jesus…THAT FIRES ME UP!!!
And let me say something to church planters…or people who think they may want to start a church one day.
I reserve Thursday’s to meet with pastors/church planters. Lindsay, my assistant, schedules these lunches for me and the discussions I have are usually very interesting.
However, I’ve got to say this…the ONE THING that has always bothered me…I mean seriously made my blood boil is when a church planter/pastor comes in and, when I ask him to tell me about his church he automatically begins to tell me about the building they have acquired OR the massive sound system they have purchased.
OR…I ask them why they are planting the church and it turns out that they are just po’d off at their former church and, as a result, plant a church simply to be “anti” whatever they came out of!!!
Church planters—pastors—let me be very clear. The building is important…we happen to have been very blessed with the building we are in. (And keep in mind we were averaging over 4,000 before moving into permanent facilities—for those who say they can’t grow because they happen to be in rented space—STOP YOUR CRYING…GET TO WORK!!!)
AND—the sound system—the lighting…all of that is cool.
BUT IF YOU ARE NOT DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE YOU WANT TO SEE UNCONNECTED PEOPLE GET CONNECTED TO CHRIST…it’s just not going to work.
You have to get past having the cool church with all of the bells and whistles and focus on having the church where people want to invite people…and when people get there—THEY MATTER, they are served, they are made to feel important…the message is to where THEY can understand it. PEOPLE!!!
I love it when I ask a church planter why he is about to do what he’s doing and he says, “Well, I have this friend named Tim…and he is unchurched…and needs Christ…and there is not a church for Tim and/or anyone like him…so I have this burden & can’t sleep at night because people like Tim need a place to go to church and eventually meet Christ.”
That’s why we do what we do here at NewSpring…so people can meet Jesus. And when they do—we dance—we celebrate—we rejoice! I am just as excited about Sara meeting Christ as I was when 412 people accepted Him several weeks ago!
NewSpring—let’s keep investing in people and inviting them to church…and when they meet Jesus—let’s continue to dance.