Sunday Reflections
08/14/07 07:08 AM
I know, I know, Sunday reflections on Tuesday
morning is kind of lame - but here we go. On
Sunday, we kicked off our new series, "Just Walk
Across the Room." It's intended to be more than a
typical series, it's a church-wide campaign. What
makes something a church-wide campaign these days?
It's when the entire church for a period of time
participates in something together - as a large
group, a small group, and as individuals. It
creates focus, unity, and synergy. In the past 17
years, we've been a part of at least 4 similar
campaigns, "Step of Faith," "For Such A Time As
This," "40 Days of Purpose," and "40 Days of
Community." (The first two were giving campaigns.)
Each one served a specific purpose. Each one
focused and unified our church.
"Just Walk Across the Room" is all about demystifying evangelism. It might sound crazy, but it can be as easy as taking simple walks across rooms. Why this? Why now? Well, this is what Coastal is all about - sharing LIFE! We have constantly got to be raising the evangelism meter - so to speak. Why? Because left to ourselves, we forget why we're here and we will focus on ourselves. So for four weeks we're going to read a book together - "Just Walk Across the Room," by Bill Hybels. By the way, it's a great book. It's an easy read, it's inspirational, and it's practical! We're going to listen to the same messages on Sunday morning. And for four weeks, we're going to apply what we're learning in small groups on Wednesday nights.
Now the reality is, it doesn't make sense from a calendar standpoint to start a campaign in August. Experts would say, "You're crazy to do a campaign in the Summer. People won't come. It's not worth the effort. People are more focused in the Fall or Spring or after the New Year. Families are taking that last hurrah before school starts." And they're right. Except for one thing. I felt this is what God was telling us to do. God has been up to something at Coastal. We've been more focused - praying, planning, preparing, building relationships, inviting people. And He has been blessing that. It's obvious the Fall is going to be big! We have visitors every week and they're returning. Yes, it's still the Summer and a new group of people seem to be out of town each week, but still this Summer has been different. You can just taste the momentum, enthusiasm, and excitement. We've just come out of two big, somewhat over the top series - "Old School," and "Reel to Real." We really wanted to create a buzz with something big for the Fall (more on that soon!) And so it was just so clear that God was telling me to refocus and regroup Coastal around our central mission - sharing LIFE!
And so we started on Sunday. The title of my message was, "The Single Greatest Gift." We talked about leaving our "Circles of Comfort" and entering the "Zone of the Unknown." We were reminded that that's exactly what Jesus did for us - Philippians 2. We talked about listening to the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit. And finally, like the old Nike ad campaign, we were reminded to, "Just Walk." One of the highlights of the service was our little homework assignment - filling out and sending a small "God Used You to Point the Way" postcard. After the service we had our Ministry Leader Lunch and Meeting. It's a time for me to meet with those in our church who lead our various Ministries and remind them of our purpose and cast vision. I'm excited about tomorrow night! Make an extra effort to be there!
"Just Walk Across the Room" is all about demystifying evangelism. It might sound crazy, but it can be as easy as taking simple walks across rooms. Why this? Why now? Well, this is what Coastal is all about - sharing LIFE! We have constantly got to be raising the evangelism meter - so to speak. Why? Because left to ourselves, we forget why we're here and we will focus on ourselves. So for four weeks we're going to read a book together - "Just Walk Across the Room," by Bill Hybels. By the way, it's a great book. It's an easy read, it's inspirational, and it's practical! We're going to listen to the same messages on Sunday morning. And for four weeks, we're going to apply what we're learning in small groups on Wednesday nights.
Now the reality is, it doesn't make sense from a calendar standpoint to start a campaign in August. Experts would say, "You're crazy to do a campaign in the Summer. People won't come. It's not worth the effort. People are more focused in the Fall or Spring or after the New Year. Families are taking that last hurrah before school starts." And they're right. Except for one thing. I felt this is what God was telling us to do. God has been up to something at Coastal. We've been more focused - praying, planning, preparing, building relationships, inviting people. And He has been blessing that. It's obvious the Fall is going to be big! We have visitors every week and they're returning. Yes, it's still the Summer and a new group of people seem to be out of town each week, but still this Summer has been different. You can just taste the momentum, enthusiasm, and excitement. We've just come out of two big, somewhat over the top series - "Old School," and "Reel to Real." We really wanted to create a buzz with something big for the Fall (more on that soon!) And so it was just so clear that God was telling me to refocus and regroup Coastal around our central mission - sharing LIFE!
And so we started on Sunday. The title of my message was, "The Single Greatest Gift." We talked about leaving our "Circles of Comfort" and entering the "Zone of the Unknown." We were reminded that that's exactly what Jesus did for us - Philippians 2. We talked about listening to the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit. And finally, like the old Nike ad campaign, we were reminded to, "Just Walk." One of the highlights of the service was our little homework assignment - filling out and sending a small "God Used You to Point the Way" postcard. After the service we had our Ministry Leader Lunch and Meeting. It's a time for me to meet with those in our church who lead our various Ministries and remind them of our purpose and cast vision. I'm excited about tomorrow night! Make an extra effort to be there!
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