Where is the Urgency?

Are you in front of something? When you look behind you do you see a group of people who are looking straight at you and apparently waiting for your next move so they know what their next move is going to be? If you find yourself in that awesome position, then you have woken up to find yourself in a position of leadership.

Are you a positional leader? Are you by job description or title a leader? Does your position in your company or business necessitate that you are in from of people, but when you look around are you straining your eyes to see where all the followers are?

In the business world this lack of follower-ship can be problematic to your company's bottom line - if you are a pastor then this lack of follower-ship can mean eternal death for hundreds if not thousands of people. We live in a time when the population of the world is growing and the population in our churches is decreasing - Houston, we have a problem!

We do not have a lack of church locations, but yet we have a lack of growth of the Christian faith. How can this be the case? How can we in America have a surplus of churches and yet still have a deficit of Christianity? How have we missed the boat? Why are we in the position we are in? How are we going to get out of it?

Where is the urgency in the church? Where is the passion in the leadership of the church that compels us to give everything we have to reach those around us with the Good News? When did we swallow the lie that it is ok to be the church 'for us', but it is not ok for us to be the church for 'those people out there'? Why do we believe that 'those people out there' need to change to be more like us before they can join us? Do we seriously think that people are dying to flood into our churches and fill our pews all by themselves?

Houston, we really do have a problem - it just isnt going to happen.

We need to allow the Lord to change us and transform us to a people of URGENCY - a people who have heard the alarm bell ringing and understand that when the alarm goes off it means only one thing - FIRE!

We need to allow ourselves to accept change and new things readily and to not get stuck in the rut of 'this is how we have always done it'. We need to recognize that the cheesy-Left Behind series movies may not have all the Hollywood razzamataz, but they have one vital element - the TRUTH. Whether you enjoyed the cinematography of any of those end of the world type movies is not important - the truth that people have one life to live and if they die without knowing Christ then they are dead forever.

When will we wake up to the alarm that is ringing loudly at the minute and 'be strong and courageous' and simply invite our friends and neighbors to come to church?

When?

Please let it be soon.


Do you hear me Jason? The time is now!

GO!

My Little Pony - Its a Man Thing

This week has been one of those weeks when it seemed like I was out every night, or working every night in preparation for what was a busy weekend. Friday daytime was spent putting the boat back together again followed by small group and a late night preparation time to get ready for Bowiefest on Saturday.

Saturday morning we were up and at em early and after picking up a few bits and pieces from the church at 8am I was off to Allen Pond to set up our booth for what promised to be a day of connecting with the great people of this city. Saturday was hot - from the moment I left my house it was hot. It was one of those days when being hot and sweaty was the common feeling of the day. I dont think that changed at any moment during the day to be honest. The band were due to play at 11:30am but that was never going to happen because the sound engineer who had all of the sound gear in his truck overslept and only arrived at Bowiefest at 11am. To say they were slow setting up their rig was an understatement, but by noon, JD and the gang were belting out worship tunes across the whole venue. It was awesome to walk through the vendors and stalls and see people tapping their feet to the music. I wonder if they really knew it was a worship set?

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to people about StreetReach and what we were trying to achieve with our summer outreach. There were a number of great conversations and we will see what comes from the seeds that were planted.

Saturday night was spent enjoying the beauty of Justin and Jackie's wedding. It is always great to see friends fulfill their dream of getting married and to be a part of the beginning of their new journey together. Ending the evening with final preparation of this morning's message.

This morning went well, at least I felt it did, but it is always difficult to know how you are heard. The response seemed to be good. We will see what the week brings.

When I got home from gassing up my truck in preparation for the week, Emma was in the toy room yelling for her mom. I went in to see what the issue was that was evoking the screams. "Would you play with me daddy?" came with a little forlorn look. I was instantly met with my own message this morning - I had a choice to make. Was I going to make some selfish excuse about being tired and go sit down, or was I going to fight for my family and sit down on the floor to play with My Little Ponies. There wasn't really a choice to make. So little purple brush in hand I was designated as the head groom and had to brush all the  ponies. Once the stable was completed we moved on to Barbies and the doll's house. For a little under an hour or so Emma and I played with her toys, doing the things that she wanted - and it felt fantastic. I need to keep making the right choices - regardless of how tired or busy I think I am.

Fight for your family, not with them.