Sunday Night Reflections
We had 12 (adult) first time guest today which when you add our other first time guest we have had this month means we had over 50 friends, co-workers, classmates, family members, neighbors come to hang out with us at Elmwood just in September! That's what I call following the rules… we have two rules at Elmwood we call them the iRULES – inVEST and inVITE. My dad who has been a pastor for over 40 years now would always say "we have to earn the right to invite." That is what the iRULES are all about. We must build a bridge (invest) relationally with the people that God has placed in our life so that we can inVITE not only to curch but even more important to invite them into a personal relationship with their heavenly Father.
One of the things that I have to remind myself to constantly do is to share the mission and strategy that God has called us to at Elmwood. When you have the number of guest and new people coming that we (thank the Lord) are experiencing we have to make sure everybody knows what we are here for. Everybody has their own defintion of what a church should or sometimes should not be so I want to make sure as people come and hang out and are trying to figure out if this is a community of faith that they want to put some roots down in that they really know what we are about. So…
Our MISSION is to honor God by trying to reach every man, woman and child to hear and see the life changing – transforming message of Jesus Christ in our circle of accountability. We have no control over people's response to God but we have taking responsibilty to own the "lostness" of our community. We know that not everybody is going to walk through the doors of a church so we must take the chuch to the streets. We want to make it as hard as possible for people in our circle of influence to die and go to hell. We don't talk often about what is at stake if we don't reach those men, women, boys and girls but that is the reality. An eternity seperated from the one who loves them most and created them in a place that the scriptue calls hell. That puts a ton of urgency in our mission!
We have decided to accomplish this mission by creating irresistable environments and experiences that help people connect to God and others while being obedient to God's Word which inspires us to serve our community and world together. That is why we ask almost every week for people to get inVOLVED! We are a Community of Faith, a group of people who have committed themselves to invest their time, energy, money to accomplish this mission. We say it this way – If your are convinced that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Light and you have declared Him your Lord and Leader and you want to partner with us to reach the UNCONVINCED that Jesus is the ANSWER then we would love to have you. If you are convinced but not willing to help us reach a lost and unconvinced community then…
I had a lot of people ask me about the mesage we watched this morning and if there was a way to purchase it, yes there is and I will post several different resources that will enhance your understanding and knowledge as we track through this Starting Point series which I hope you are digging as much as I am!
I love this Community of Faith that is becomming The Chapel at Elmwood – what a priviledge to get to serve the people that God is gathering together for His Glory and our great benefit!
OH yea – GO BILLS! What a great win!
