How Did He Do It?

THE major goal we are praying about and working on right now is asking God to lead us to the person, couple, or family that would be willing to join us in our first spiritual formation group (Bible study with an emphasis on building genuine spiritual community together). We're continuing to meet new people every day, trying to gently and lovingly feel out spiritual receptivity among the people we meet at the YMCA, coaching soccer, in our neighborhood, etc. We've asked several people to consider participating in such a group with us. However, the challenge of finding people who trust us enough or are open to such a relationship is even larger than we expected.

I'm trying to learn and contemplate why this part of our journey is so difficult. Part of it has to be that all of our relationships are new and there has not been time to build trust with our new friends. God has even led us to numerous mature followers of Jesus. These people are already connected to good local churches and friendships and I'm sure the prospect of starting a new church from scratch seems risky. Whenever we meet anyone and tell them of our work, their first questions are Where are you meeting? and How many people are working with you? I'm sure it is a bit freaky when we answer (something like), We're not meeting anywhere yet...because it is just our family. I guess I would be skeptical of me too.

These thoughts and fears in mind, I'm more amazed than ever at Jesus' methods. Mark 2:13-17 describes His call of Levi (Matthew). Jesus was out among people, saw Levi working, asked Levi to join Him, and Levi accepted. Calls of Simon, Andrew, James and John (Mark 1:16-20) were also successful. How did Jesus know who to pick? Why did the men readily accept? Was there any relationship or history or trust there that the Bible doesn't record? Did any initial contacts refuse Jesus' invitation? These are the questions I'm asking God today.

What I do learn from Jesus is that He was constantly among the people. Mark says He saw Levi "...as He walked along...". We've got to continue to find ways to meet more people. Jesus also had His eyes open. I don't know what it was, but there was something that prompted Him to approach Levi. God, open our eyes to the people and opportunities you want us to see and approach. Finally, I notice (simple!) that Jesus wasn't afraid to ask. He simply said, Come, be my disciple. God, give us the courage, wisdom, and words to clearly request of people that they join us on mission for you.

Friend, your prayers are needed. Thanks for praying with us. This post is an honest reflection of my heart today. I want to live Matthew 21:21-22...but sometimes my heart is weaker than my head. I also know we have a responsibility to work hard to meet and befriend people. But, ultimately, this is spiritual work. Please pray that Jesus would deepen our faith and do Matthew 16:18 with us today.

There Is Joy In Heaven!

We praise God for the first tangible fruit from our work here in the Columbus area. I've been working with a super young couple as they prepare for their upcoming marriage. This contact was passed on to me, by God's grace, from my new friend Nathan Harrison (a pastor at the Eastside, Columbus, GBC).

Last night we met for the second time. Jamie and Bobby and I were looking at what the Bible says about the role of the husband and wife compared to the example of Jesus and the Church (from Ephesians 5:21-33). I felt led of the Lord to ask some follow-up questions of Bobby from our initial conversation a few weeks ago. The long and the short of it is that the Holy Spirit has been working in Bobby's heart. He believed in Jesus as God's Son, the One who offers forgiveness for our sins, and his own need for Jesus' grace. After some good discussion around Titus 3:4-8, Bobby stated he was ready to communicate a personal commitment to Jesus. We prayed right there at Caribou Coffee.

Pray for Bobby as he lives out this new pursuit of Christ and he and Jamie as they prepare for a lifetime commitment to each other in marriage. Please praise God with us (Luke15:10) for His work! Pray also that they might accept my invitation to join us in our initial spiritual formation group as we move towards a new church.

"I don't think we have a Bible in our house..."

My new friend, I'll call him Ed, shared this with me at lunch. We had an great conversation (over some wonderful food at the Columbus Fish Market...I never thought I would like Walleye...) where he taught me some tips on marketing and developing a customer base (from a business perspective) and I shared with him our vision for starting a church from scratch by loving people who don't go to church or know Jesus.

Ed shared with me that he has a life-coach. The coach works with him from a holistic perspective- health, spirituality, vocation, relationships, etc. This opened the door for me to ask what sort of guidance or encouragement the coach offers in the spiritual realm of life. Praise God, for a first conversation (Ed did our mortgage...so this was our first contact outside of business), I was able to lay a foundation for my beliefs in the authority of the Bible and what it says about Jesus and His purposes of forgiveness and eternal life.

Before we met, I had no idea where Ed would be coming from. As it turns out, he is friendly, successful, kind, and giving. He loves his family and works hard to help other people. It hit me as we were meeting- this is the type of person God sent us to Columbus to reach. Ed is a good man, but, even though he doesn't realize it, he's apart from Christ. This breaks my heart and I'm determined to pray and try to find a way to further our relationship and conversations.

I learned some interesting (to me) things from Ed:

• Unchurched people aren't as scary as I sometimes think they might be. I'm not sure why Ed was willing to have lunch with me, but he was as open and kind as any believer I know. He was even open to the spiritual elements to our conversation.
  
• If I'm going to be effective in reaching out to those who do not yet know Jesus, I'm going to have to be willing to hear others' political views and be careful how I share my own. Like it or not, in many cases, as conservative Christians, we've ruined our credibility with unchurched people because of how we posture ourselves publicly or are portrayed politically by the media. Jesus was interested in loving, healing, and teaching truth...not winning converts to a political agenda.
  
• Ed is more open to spiritual things at this stage of his life because he wants his children to have an opportunity to explore various religions. A church that impacts his kids has a good chance of impacting him.
  
• It is more and more acceptable in the professional world to recognize the role of the spiritual in achieving "success". May this trend help missional people be more effective in sharing Jesus as The Way, Truth, and source of Life.
  

Would you pray with me for Ed? Pray for God's movement in his life- maybe in some result from our time together today. Please ask God to give me wisdom and opportunity for future interactions.

Rethinking Evangelism

I was talking with my neighbor, Sarah. As we watched our kids play, I tried to direct the conversation towards issues of spiritual significance. I shared with her that we had moved to the area recently to begin a new church and asked her what she thought of the churches in the area. She said that she really wouldn't know how to respond to that question because she isn't "really religious". My heart broke as we talked more about how she feels that "the whole religion thing is a sham" and doesn't believe in God. I said, "So, you can really look around you (at nature- sky, trees, etc.) and believe it all came into existence by chance. I know for me, when I see the amazing beauty and detail of nature, it reaffirms my belief in a Creator and Supreme Being."

On a different occasion, I was talking with another neighbor (I'll call him Jack) about his work and spiritual beliefs. He is an adherent of Sufism, an offshoot of Islam. God opened the door for a conversation that revolved around the reliability of the Bible as the sole source for spiritual Truth and Jesus as the Son of God.

I'm learning that evangelism in today's culture is a process, not an event. Previously, I would have been disappointed and felt that my conversations with Sarah and Jack were incomplete because I did not have or did not force an open door to share the complete plan of salvation. Now, on the contrary, I'm coming to believe that sharing my faith will be more effective as I enter into a journey of spiritual discovery with those God places around me. I'm praying for opportunities to build on these conversations with my new friends. My role with those God loves is to pray for them, look for opportunities to model and share Jesus' love, invite them into spiritual community, AND share the Gospel with them at the appropriate time.

In his book Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer advocates that any discussion with a lost person that clarifies a misperception about Truth or Jesus or causes them to reconsider a rejection of faith in the Gospel qualifies as evangelism. In other words, stimulating an irreligious person to reevaluate their stance that there is no God or a Sufi to consider the authority of the Bible is evangelism (as seen as a process rather than an event).

Stetzer also quantifies the importance that spiritual community is to evangelism in the 21st century. He writes, There are two conversions-one temporal and one eternal. The first conversion is the conversion to community. With few exceptions people come to Christ after they've journeyed with other Christians, examining them and considering their claims. A next step with Sarah and Jack is to invite them to participate in a new spiritual formation group with other spiritual sojourners in our neighborhood.

I know that many of us long to practice a life of mission. I hope you're encouraged to forge ahead in making disciples as you remember that every time you share God's work in your life, share your trust in God's Word or your hope in Jesus, love another with Jesus' healing love, invite someone to join you in spiritual community, and/or share the plan of salvation--these are all evangelism. These are all important elements in the process of a seeker moving to faith. Conversion is an event, but in most cases, it is preceded by a process.