Date: Sept. 7th, 2008
Speaker: Kevin Snyder
Title: Just Walk Across the Room: Pre-Campaign Message
Series: Just Walk Across the Room
Introduction
Over my 3 years here and also observing this church from afar, I have come to hear many of your stories and the East Side story.
I continue to be enthralled by the story of when you as a church took the big step to move out here and the growth that took place.
You came out here and there sounds like there was an electricity and an excitement and an anticipation about what God was going to do. And people started coming. Many of you were invited by someone and came to East Side and began a spiritual journey with Christ.
And the church mushroomed. New ministries were birthed. People were touched. There seemed to be a prolonged period there where there was a contagious atmosphere and attitude around East side.
And then came the train wreck of 2001, the grief of Jan’s death (wife of Pastor Ed), and the feeling of loss that just sucked up so much energy and attention for a few years.
But often those days when first moved into this building are often warmly seen as some of the best days in East Side’s history. And the question we have as a church to ask is:
- “Do we believe God can do even more?
- Do we believe that God can exceed the blessing of those years?”
I believe the answer is “yes”. I believe God wants to do it again and again.
Steve Henderson was in here a week or so ago repainting the baptismal tank that stands here below my feet. It had become worn and chipped over the 15 years of use and needed some renewing. And as he was painting we were talking and I said to Steve something like, “I hope we wear this new paint off in ½ the time it took this time because of so many baptisms.”
One of my yearnings as a Pastor has always been to see people far from God come into relationship with Christ. I have often tried to picture what the Acts 2 church must have been like. It tells of all the dynamic things happening and concludes with: “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”
What an exciting place that would have been.
My faith isn’t such that I want to challenge us to pray for daily.
But I want to challenge us as a congregation to ramp up our prayers and our desires that God would add weekly.
I mean that specifically: Would we take up the challenge in our personal prayer times and as a church to begin to pray that God would add weekly to his family here at East Side from those who are far from God. That we would regain a contagion. That he would ramp up our hearts and activity to see those kinds of results.
That is going to take prayer….going to be a work of God.
Do you know in North America the average conversion rate is: For every new Canadian that finds their way to Christ it takes 100 people 1 year. That means that if we are average: a church our size in North America would see 3.5 people come to Christ in a year.
Folks, I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be average. I know every soul is valuable, but for all the staff, and all the ministries, and all the people here, 3.5 is pretty ineffective. It would be rather pathetic.
And so we want to begin our fall spiritual campaign next week with that goal in mind. To see God ramp up our spiritual temperature and activity so as to see God add weekly to our family.
Our fall campaign is called: “Just Walk Across the Room.”
It challenges us to think: Could we make a difference in someone’s life for now and eternity by simply walking across the room.
What are the components of the this campaign?
1. Components:
a. Tuesday, Sept 9th – Special Day of Prayer
Set aside time in the day to pray for the goals of this campaign and people in your life (in bulletin)
Evening: I want to invite you to join in a corporate prayer time as begin this campaign and ministry year.
Quote:
Tell popularity of church by crowd on sun am. Tell pop. Of pastor by attendance of Sun night. Tell popularity of Jesus by attendance at prayer meeting.
Invite all of you to join in praying that we as a church would see a new wave of contagion sweep through us & community (set up to pray in small groups or at stations depending on comfort level)
b. Sunday Worship Services (Sept 14, 21, 28, Oct 5) introduce the theme & challenge us to walk across the sanctuary, across the street, across the workroom, etc in an effort to engage someone far from God.
c. Tuesday’s, 7:00 pm ( Sept 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7)
big group/ small group
Format:
d. Personal Reading
Book: “Just Walk Across the Room”
e. Outreach Activities:
1. 2 min exercise – after service before talk to friends greet someone new to you
2. Pray Walk – invite you to walk in your neighbourhood and pray for the people on your block. Pray for every single house in Swift Current
3. Matthew parties – parties to invite un-churched folk with no agenda but to show them love & acceptance
4. Friend Day – Oct 26th
2. Heart Preparation for the Campaign
The question this morning is:
“What needs to happen for us to ramp up the outreach temperature and become that contagious and impacting church?
Let me suggest there are 2 issues we need to face
-
Belief Issue
Do we sincerely believe that our friends life would be better if they had an encounter with J.C.?
Many times we get all focused on the negative behaviours of people and bent out of shape by how far they perhaps are from God. But let me challenge you to look at people not for their present behaviour, but to begin to see what they could be like if they encountered J.C.
One of the first issues we need to settle is that we sincerely believe that our friend would be happier, more fulfilled, and better through an encounter with Christ.
Now for some that’s hard because your own experience of Cnity has colored you. Some see Christian life as just adding rules, killing fun, adding things you don’t really enjoy to your to do list, ….you don’t see Christ as the life-giver, the one who feeds the soul with a living water that nothing else can bring.
i.e.
Gerry – 2 yuppies – good looking, moving up in their careers…seemed to have it all….got married in Las Vegas.
What about what I have to offer would they be interested in. But just got to know them. Started coming to church. Made appointment and came in and told me about void in his life and wanted to experience Christ.
Many chapters more to that story.
Friends, everyone who you know is searching for something….there is a yearning in their life. Looking in a lot of places….doesn’t matter what they have it doesn’t fill the spot that only Christ can fill.
First step is we need to believe that….we need to believe in the hunger of the human heart and the sufficiency of Christ to fill that spot.
- Priority Issue
Jesus #1 priority was people. Jesus not only walked across the room….he walked across the cosmos for people. He walked to the cross for people.
1 John 3:16 – “We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.”
People more than anything else were his focus.
1 example that came out of my devotional reading of Mark this past week:
a. Mark 3:5 - man comes to temple with shrivelled hand .
Pharisees are looking to see if Jesus would heal him on Sabbath. It was a set-up because rules were couldn’t heal on Sabbath (work) unless person’s life endangered. Shrivelled hand wasn’t of that degree.
Mark 3: 5 – “Jesus looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand” He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored.”
Why was Jesus angry?
- Because policy came before people.
- Laws came before ministry.
- Rules came before healing.
- Technicalities were more important than people.
Jesus saw people first.
- They became before tasks.
- They came before rules.
- They came before traditions and patterns.
Consult with other churches: Read this and ask: What prevents you from reaching out to the broken and hurting in your community? Are you willing to change your worship pattern, your music style, your seating plan….whatever in order to introduce people to the healing power of Christ?
Whose needs come first – yours or those who need Christ?
Apostle Paul said,
“I became all things to all men in order that I might win some.”
Sad – some churches who want to see people healed & added, but want it according to their rules, and patterns, and traditions.
Question:
- Are people our priority?
- What lengths will we go?
- What will we set aside to give a higher priority to people?
When we make up our plans and schedules do we make any plans to get together with friends who are far from God? Or do those times get pushed to the bottom of the priority list – after entertainment choices, after church activities…and the net result is it doesn’t happen.
Bottom line: If we are going to have an impact on the people around us, on this community, time for God’s lost kids needs to get on our priority list.
i.e.
BELL Series – Enter - 3rd places –
1st place – home (cocoon),
2nd place =work – functional rel.
3rd place = those places we go to connect, relax (gym, Tim Hortens, etc.)
If we are going to be effective in impacting our community we as Cns need to be making time for 3rd places.
Personal Example of my attempt to keep God’s lost kids a priority:
As a pastor it is easy for me to get surrounded and have all my time focused on church people….blessing babies, holding hands, setting agendas, planning church events…..good things…..but I can no longer be on the frontline encountering people far from God.
Easier here – more people more machinery to get lost in.
Well, a few years ago in my annual report I started publishing a goal that with God’s help I would seek to reach 3 people far from God in the year.
And people held me accountable.
They’d ask: Who are you trying to reach? How’s that going?
One lady one time when she heard thought “good luck”
But I needed that to keep my focus.
What was I living for?
It forced me to make time for those 3 guys in my schedule. To become intentional about getting together with them.
Some years God honoured that goal. Some years couldn’t point to one.
But regardless it kept me focused and kept God’s lost kids in my priorities.
Over next few weeks I am going to challenge you to make a list of people who are far from God who you will begin to pray for regularly , and whom you will commit to reaching out and trying to show them God’s love and grace for them. The number isn’t important, but the focus is.
Bill Hybels summarizes this point well in his book: “Just Walk Across the Room.’
“Let me say it again: the single greatest gift you can give someone is an introduction to the God who asked his Son to go the unthinkable distance to redeem them. And when you allow your life’s great preoccupation to be people, you’ll find that when Christ asks you to take a walk across a street, into a restaurant, up a flight of stairs, through a locker room, wherever, you are ready! You’re ready to leave your Circle of Comfort and follow his lead because you remember the fact that Jesus once crossed an entire universe to rescue you – the same Jesus who was known to enjoy deep community from time to time but who would consistently and unapologetically excuse himself from a Circle of Comfort and walk in the direction of someone he could direct toward the Father.
Today, to Christ-followers all over the planet, he says, “Reflect my love! And repeat my action.”
Conclusion
The 2 key questions today as we begin this campaign are:
- Do we believe that people’s lives would be better off for knowing Christ?
- How important are “God’s lost kids” to us?
Practical Application
- Make a list of friends (who are far from God) to pray for - believe God can do some good work in their lives (3 – 5)
- Plan intentional times to get together with those friends
– intentionally begin to move getting together with God’s lost kids a higher priority in your schedule this fall. Set aside some time to intentionally get together.
Communion
Today we want to participate in the Lord’s Table as this is our last Sunday all together in one service.
Context I want to put it in is a response to the message this morning:
- You are here because Jesus walked across the cosmos for you. He did that so you would experience his abundant life.
As you partake remember you are the recipient of his grace. As a result he has given you his presence, peace, Holy Spirit, forgiveness, purpose, and hope. You’re life is richer because of what Christ did. Bible describes that richness as being transferred from darkness to light, death to life.
- You are here because as humans we are a priority to God. We were the focus of his redeeming action.
We are here because Jesus walked across the room for us.
In gratitude for what he has done let us commit ourselves to reflect his love and repeat his action.
Instructions:
Serve you today in your rows. Hold until all have received.
Prayer for bread
Prayer for cup
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