The GREAT COMMISSION, for many, has become the GREAT OMISSION. I'm not trying to bash anyone or any church, however, we've become so obsessed with the INTERNAL MACHINERY of POLITICS, TITLES, TALENT, POSITIONS and SELF-FOCUS that we've seemingly forgotten about the people who are DYING and GOING TO HELL!
That bothers me.
I'm thankful for the culture of BFWC and the environment where people can meet JESUS, instead of meeting the pastor. It's more important that people know about SCRIPTURE than they know about Robert's Rules of Order. I care more about someone's HEART than I do their wardrobe. I care more about UNITY of the team than I do about superstars.
Remember in Matthew 4:19 when Jesus said, "Come follow me and I will make you..." He said, "I'm going to make you FISHERS of MEN." Notice what He didn't say..."Come follow me and we will boycott Disney, blast other Christians, plan a fish fry or talk about people's position." NOPE...His focus was on reaching PEOPLE. Because that is the example He set, the church should do the same!
What if the church is nothing more than a COUNTRY CLUB with a cross and a steeple? (You'll only be offended by that statement if it describes your church.)
WE ARE CALLED TO REACH PEOPLE!
God wants us to get outside of our world and into the worlds of people who do not know Christ. That means we are to LIKE the people who are nothing LIKE us.
What kind of church do you want to have? For me, I want BFWC to be place where you don't have to be PERFECT to walk through the doors. Honestly, our church isn't perfect and I'm not a perfect pastor. If someone who is perfect walks in, they're going to feel out of place real quick.
We want people to meet JESUS and be CHANGED. That's why we VALUE a CULTURE of OUTREACH. We've seen nearly 100 people receive Christ this year, and we're hoping to exceed that before 2014!
Creating a culture of outreach starts with teaching our people that evangelism IS inviting people to church! While you're reading this, I hope you become extremely aware that you need to invite people to church! DO IT! People will come and hear about JESUS and their lives CAN BE transformed! It takes all of us working together to make evangelism work.
When Beverly and I greet first time guests, we ask them "How did you hear about BFWC?" Nearly 99% of the time they say they were personally invited by a family member or friend...in other words, they were "EVANGELIZED!"
Isn't that God's goal? YES! He desires for people to reach people. Today, I want you to know that you don't have to be embarrassed to invite a friend or family member...we are going to talk about JESUS...and through this process JESUS will change lives!
FOUND people...FIND people!