The THRILL of Revelations
I have to tell you how totally pumped I am about the future God is unfolding for our church. It is a consistent FACT in formal ministry that “Kingdom” progress cannot always be measured or qualified by external data. It is in times when we are influenced by less than desireable results that God shows us who He really is. As I try to write this article my heart is pumping with exhuberance over what He has revealed today.
We just returned from a week-long mission trip to San Diego where we participated with the launch team from “Elevate” to let people know that a new church was coming to their area. The “Elevate” team has one passion in San Diego — “To make the name of Jesus famous.” I blogged about some of the things we did out in San Diego (and let me say how honored I felt that so many people logged on to read the blog – thanks). As Lisa Freeman (our Missions Coordinator) and I were assessing the trip this morning, she and I both said almost simultaneously that we need to do the same thing in Greenville. I said, “We need to turn our Senior Leadership Team into a mission team and get out into our communities and let people know what God is doing at Washington Avenue.” She had been thinking about this already.
I shared this seemingly docile idea with our Senior Team through an email and that’s when God started to reveal something exciting. I talked with Arlene — our business manager — and she shared how her husband Ron had said the same thing to her over the weekend. Then, as I sat here at home checking emails, I received more “fuel” for my furnace that made it blaze to a new level of heat. Corey and Carrie wrote in response to my email that they had discussed this very same thing after reading about our Mission work in San Diego@!
Could it be this simple? Have we simply failed to SEE the Obvious? Not quite! It is my conviction that God reveals things very clearly In His Timing! We now have a model for ministry that I believe completely meets the primary criteria given to us in Scripture. I feel more confident than ever before that we have a Vision Strategy that makes sense, is simple, and has the potential to reach thousands of people for Christ! NOW it is time to think MARKETING! It is now time to combine our best creative ideas and get the message out in public that God is building something huge at Washington Avenue!
For those who are already partnering with us in this ministry, GET READY TO GO! If you’re reading this blog and have a passion to invest your life in something that is going to be God-Sized and amazing, come check us out. (go to www.washingtonavenue.org to learn more) For our brothers and sisters who are serving in productive ministries, pray with us for God to SHOW OUT in and through ALL of our churches!!!
Chuck, I made the same comment while on the mission trip too!! I think we should share with our community what our church is up to, and go into the places where people hang out and share Jesus and our church with them. We need to let people know that we are excited about our church!!!!! We could use some of the same concepts we used in San Diego. Sounds great to me!