The Bowl Tickets - Part 2
12/29/07 10:37 AM
Okay, back to the Bowl tickets. My message is
humming along. We've talked about jewelry, gadgets,
and gaming systems, and given away a bracelet,
ipod, and Guitar Hero 3. Now the final point of my
message I'm talking about sports related gifts. I
announce for the person with the letter "T" under
their gift bag to come to the stage. By the way, if
you didn't figure it out, the winning letters were
"GIFT."
A young man in his 20's, a first time guest, comes to the stage. He was obviously a good sport and really played along. Before he opens the gift he says he's not a Clemson fan (assuming that it's some sort of Clemson thing), but a Carolina fan - the Carolina contingent at our church hoot and holler a bit. I assure him that it's not just a Clemson gift, but a sports gift. He opens the gift and it contains a card saying that he's won two tickets to the 2007 Chick-Fil-A Bowl Game in Atlanta, GA. The crowd goes wild and you can tell he's excited. As he's walking off the stage I say, "By the way, we thought long and hard about which Bowl Tickets to try to get. We almost got tickets for the Bowl Game that Carolina is playing in . . . oh yeah, that's right." Crowd busts up laughing and so does he. Again, good sport.
I said a box containing a card saying that he's won two tickets because the tickets had not yet arrived in the mail. I told the young man who won to make sure that he filled out a Connect Card with his information and we would be sure to contact him as soon as they arrived. On his Connect Card he checked that he had renewed his commitment to Christ. Here's what he wrote, "Your sermon was amazing. I had lost a lot and questioned many things. Thank you for your words. It made me see things in a different light. My girlfriend found you through the internet and I decided we would come."
When the tickets arrived I gave him a call. He thanked me for the call and told me that he had been meaning to email me ever since the Christmas Eve service. He again told me how much it meant to him. He said that he had been away from church for several years. In fact, he said the last time he was in church he looked around and saw a bunch of people who didn't really want to be there. During the message they would balance their checkbook, doodle, or sleep. They were just going through the motions. Quite frankly, he said he didn't want to be there either. It didn't seem to speak to his life. So he quit going.
He still prayed and even read his Bible, but he didn't have a church family. He said he felt God calling him back. He and his girlfriend decided to search for another church to visit. They found ours on the internet. He was blown away, and not just by my message, but that everyone genuinely seemed to want to be there. He also said that when I said, "No one is here by accident. God has a reason for you being here," that he knew I was speaking to him.
I offered to meet with him to give him the tickets. He said, "No, I'll pick them up Sunday at church." Wow! Is that a God thing or what? It's amazing what happens when a church decides to pray for people far from God (1-1-1), pull out all the stops, and do whatever it takes to reach them. It's amazing what happens when a church truly decides that the reason they exist is to share and experience LIFE! You know what? Actually, it's not amazing. It's just what God has been waiting for and what He said would happen all along. Simply put, those are the people and the churches that He uses. See you Sunday!
A young man in his 20's, a first time guest, comes to the stage. He was obviously a good sport and really played along. Before he opens the gift he says he's not a Clemson fan (assuming that it's some sort of Clemson thing), but a Carolina fan - the Carolina contingent at our church hoot and holler a bit. I assure him that it's not just a Clemson gift, but a sports gift. He opens the gift and it contains a card saying that he's won two tickets to the 2007 Chick-Fil-A Bowl Game in Atlanta, GA. The crowd goes wild and you can tell he's excited. As he's walking off the stage I say, "By the way, we thought long and hard about which Bowl Tickets to try to get. We almost got tickets for the Bowl Game that Carolina is playing in . . . oh yeah, that's right." Crowd busts up laughing and so does he. Again, good sport.
I said a box containing a card saying that he's won two tickets because the tickets had not yet arrived in the mail. I told the young man who won to make sure that he filled out a Connect Card with his information and we would be sure to contact him as soon as they arrived. On his Connect Card he checked that he had renewed his commitment to Christ. Here's what he wrote, "Your sermon was amazing. I had lost a lot and questioned many things. Thank you for your words. It made me see things in a different light. My girlfriend found you through the internet and I decided we would come."
When the tickets arrived I gave him a call. He thanked me for the call and told me that he had been meaning to email me ever since the Christmas Eve service. He again told me how much it meant to him. He said that he had been away from church for several years. In fact, he said the last time he was in church he looked around and saw a bunch of people who didn't really want to be there. During the message they would balance their checkbook, doodle, or sleep. They were just going through the motions. Quite frankly, he said he didn't want to be there either. It didn't seem to speak to his life. So he quit going.
He still prayed and even read his Bible, but he didn't have a church family. He said he felt God calling him back. He and his girlfriend decided to search for another church to visit. They found ours on the internet. He was blown away, and not just by my message, but that everyone genuinely seemed to want to be there. He also said that when I said, "No one is here by accident. God has a reason for you being here," that he knew I was speaking to him.
I offered to meet with him to give him the tickets. He said, "No, I'll pick them up Sunday at church." Wow! Is that a God thing or what? It's amazing what happens when a church decides to pray for people far from God (1-1-1), pull out all the stops, and do whatever it takes to reach them. It's amazing what happens when a church truly decides that the reason they exist is to share and experience LIFE! You know what? Actually, it's not amazing. It's just what God has been waiting for and what He said would happen all along. Simply put, those are the people and the churches that He uses. See you Sunday!
|