Dare To Dream

Fellow Workers in Christ,

What I am going to share here, is going to challenge and stretch some of you who are in church leadership. But God did not call us to be comfortable! He called us to obey Him and live our lives to give Him great honor and glory!

I believe 2011 is going to be a very special year for the Lord. I believe deep in my spirit that He is calling all of us to real action, the kind in which we have never seen before! Jesus is coming back one day! Look around the community in which you live, and see the many, many of lost people amongst us! We know the Lord has said that He does not want one person to perish.

Brothers and sisters in Christ--while we as congregations are busy looking for a new youth minister, or raising funds to remodel our facility, or meeting to address some behavior issues with kids during the worship service, discussing while the utility bills are too high, looking for a new pulpit minister, deciding on rules for our new children's ministry, who will have keys to the new youth center we just built, how we will do VBS next year and a whole host of other things we do in churches--(which all are certainly important)--LOST PEOPLE ALL AROUND US ARE HEADED FOR HELL AND MORE YEARS OF A MISERABLE LIFE TIL THEIR DEATH--AND THEY ARE NOT BEING REACHED FOR CHRIST!

We all talk about evangelism and reaching the lost--but what is the fruit of our labor? And are we really laboring with all we have to bring in lost people? Or do we find ourselves spending most of our time around other saved people and being involved with lots of church activities--and never finding ourselves around unchurched people? JESUS DID NOT SUFFER AND DIE ON THE CROSS SO WE COULD LIVE NICE LIVES WITHIN THE CHURCH THE REST OF OUR LIVES! In fact, Jesus tells us that "to those who much is given, much is expected! Jesus has given us the ultimate gift of salvation, He expects us to live our lives in grattitude for that gift and He has commanded us to go share our hope with others who don't yet have that hope!

I'm a dreamer. I dream big things. We need to be dreaming big things on God's behalf! We need to be risk takers for the Lord! What if we dreamed this big dream?

Fellow Church Leaders--what if we dreamed a dream that for one year--we would set aside all projects and issues before the church--and would focus entirely on our congregations going out and reaching the lost of our community? Just take a moment to think and dream about how that would look........

What if every congregation in each community canceled their Sunday services at the building at least once a month and went to a neighborhood or an apartment complex where they would appear to be little Christianity--and had their worship in that place and invited all those living nearby to join them? What if once a month we canceled our Wednesday night service/classes and went to the same type of place and just knocked doors and said hi to everybody or had a cookout and served families living in that area or place?

What if our congregations asked their memberships to bring furniture, appliances, and all other household items they no longer need--and have a "free" sale if you will--where the neighborhood people could come get things they need for their homes--and all of this would be done in the name of Jesus Christ? Spring Creek Community Church in Garland recently did this.

What if each of our congregational memberships were constantly looking for opportunities to make friends and contacts that would give them the opportunity to show love and share Jesus with those people they meet? What if our members took their Bibles with them everytime they went to a restaurant to eat--but not shove Jesus down people's throats--but just show love and kindness in such a way that foodservers and other employees would eventually be asking those members questions? Many times I have had my Bible with me when I ate dinner somewhere and often by me just being real friendly--I was asked questions about my Bible or maybe that person was having a rough day and asked me if I would pray for them.

What if each of our congregations had members who would adopt retail stores like Wal-Marts and became regular shoppers and faces at those stores and made friends with all the employees and maybe had lunch or dinner often at the snack bars of McDonalds within those stores and became regular known and welcome customers? Imagine how many of those employees would be so happy to see those church members come in because they'd know that those Christians would offer them much love and kindness and the aroma of Christ!

What if each of our members started having Bible studies in their homes one night a week where they invite their neighbors to come and make it a comfortable and casual environment for those folks who are not quite ready to come into our church buildings yet? Or what if our members had a devotional in their front yards and a cookout and invited neighbors once a week or month? What if our members became the "ministers" of their streets--and were in regular contact with all the neighbors on their street--and everyone on those streets would know they could count on our members for prayer and love and support?

What if employers or supervisors or folks in leadership positions in the work force began to love their employees as more than just people who work for them--and looked for opportunities to minister to them? I have a lot of experience in this area. Without violating certain work place rules or crossing certain lines of people's personal space--when I was a restaurant manager, I wound up teaching the Gospel to and baptizing many employees who worked for me over the years! As did my old boss at CiCi's Pizza when I was working for him early on before I was a Christian! WE CAN USE OUR WORKPLACE AS CHRIST'S WORKBENCH!

What if every Saturday morning/afternoon, each congregation had a rotating group of workers who were knocking doors in neighborhoods inviting people to church or just saying hi and showing them love in the name of Jesus?

Just imagine if every member in every congregation were using their gifts to show Jesus love to unchurched people and share the truth about Jesus with many people each week where they live?

These things and soooo many more relational and easy things we could do to reach people that would eventually lead to conversations about Jesus--WE COULD DO! THIS IS VERY DOABLE! To just give one year of our lives and the lives of our congregations to reach lost people with all we have in us! And of course, with the Lord's help!

Imagine in one year--if we set everything else aside for one year--to be local missionaries--and our congregations fully devoted to reaching the lost for just one year--IMAGINE HOW DIFFERENT THE SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE OF OUR COMMUNITIES WOULD BE????

Just imagine and dream for a moment.......

Imagine the many new faces that would be a part of our lives, headed to Heaven with us! Imagine the blessings that would flow for all of those who went out and followed Christ by reaching lost people!

So how would we do this?

It would first start with church leaders fully committing themselves to lead by example and call out and inspire the flock to follow them! Sheep will follow good shepherds! If they sheep see church leaders not just handling matters of the church--but also getting involved in people's lives and bringing in unchurched people and out evangelizing themselves--the members will follow that example!

And with a lot of prayer and asking God to lead and guide such an effort--MANY, MANY PEOPLE COULD BE TRANSFORMED TO BECOME MORE LIKE JESUS AND SPEND ETERNITY WITH HIM! In fact, by just committing one year of our lives to this--GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE FROM HERE ON OUT--COULD ONE DAY SPEND ETERNITY WITH JESUS!

Dare to dream fellow Christians! Dare to step out of our comfort zones! Dare to obey and follow Jesus Christ and His example!

Dare to dream--AND THEN GO!

If myself our my congregation At The Cross Church can help your congregation to go live out the Great Commission--we will partner with you arm and arm and go spread the Gospel with you!

Why not? Jesus is coming back. Let us show our true faithfulness to Him when He comes back and take many with us home when He returns!

Why not?

Why not?

LETS GO!

Bruce