We had a rough week last week. We had to lovingly part ways with a few families in our church. Some tough conversations and stressful days but after today's message, we're moving forward.
Today's message was basically "God can move us through hard times (Acts 8) or gentle whispers (Acts 16:6-10) of the Holy Spirit. God is looking for men and women who hear his voice and follow. Like Caleb in Numbers 13 we must rise up and say 'surely we will do it.' "
I re-stated our passion to reach people who don't know Christ and challenged our people to pursuing God's glory through our lives with wreckless abandon. We are not a church for the cafeteria Christian.
Ultimately my challenge was (nearly word for word) this: "Do not come back next week if you are satisfied with a mediocre church. I mean it. Only come back if you are ready to pursue God's calling on your life and the life of this church with nothing else standing in our way. We will love like we never loved, give like we've never given and serve like we've never served. If you want anything less than that in your church, please find a new church home."
Afterward I had several people say that this was the most powerful message they had ever heard and they gave me their support. It looks like that aside from the people who left last week we won't immediately lose any others. I'll share more as we move forward. This is where it gets fun.
1 comment:
Awesome, I think it's great when pastors say something that may cause "numbers" to decrease, but allow the vision of the church to move forward. I'll be praying for you.
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