This Is How It Works

As I work with churches I have served and churches I have consulted, I always hear the same question, in varying forms:  "What can we do to get new people?"  "How can our church grow?"  "How do we do evangelism?"

Here's how it works.  True story.

A business owner in our congregation recently had the opportunity to talk with one of his employees about faith matters.  I don't know the specific circumstances.  Maybe the employee was just curious about church.  Perhaps the owner saw an opening to talk about his own relationship with Jesus.  It could be she had some particular life issue with which she was dealing.  In any event, she accepted an invitation to try out our worship service.  The next Sunday the business owner stood outside the entryway to our facility watching for her, in order to join with our hospitality team in making her feel welcome, helping her to get acclimated, answering any questions, etc.   Within a couple of hours of her worship experience someone in addition to the business owner texted her to thank her for coming and to ask how the church could help her.  She returned to worship for a couple of Sundays after that.  Eventually she accepted an invitation to stay after worship for a free meal and a time to learn more about our mission, our story, our particular denomination, and what is expected of church members.  Long story short, last Sunday she joined with several others in baptism or remembering baptism, public profession of faith in Jesus.  She's now in a small group around Pastor Rick Warren's resource WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?   So shes building relationships with more people, including folks who are new like her.  Early this week I had occasion to patronize their business.  The new disciple proudly told me that she had invited a friend of hers to come to worship to see her make her commitment.  Her friend plans to come back to worship with her and wants to know about baptism.

That's how it works.  It's not rocket science.  It doesn't take revivals, special speakers, and slick packaged program.  It doesn't require yet another committee.  You don't have to be a high-powered, high profile mega-church.  We're not that.  It doesn't take an over-the-top charismatic, media savvy techno-pastor who writes about three books a year.  I respect guys and gals like that and I learn a ton from them.  But I'm not one and never will be.  People don't respond to Jesus and to the Body of Christ because of programs, preachers, or profiles.  It happens through relationships; simple, genuine, one-to-one relationships.  Faith is more caught than taught.  It's one beggar sharing with another where bread is given.

Just so you know...  I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Goodbye to the Great Canoeist

This blog began several years ago with a theme of Ozark streams, canoeing, and kayaking.  This Saturday we will bid a formal farewell to the man who introduced me to the world encompassed by these great themes.  My dad died last Thursday morning at the age of 84 years.  He passed away while on a "bucket list" trip to a place that he loved.  All of us in his immediate family were ill at ease about him undertaking this trip, as ill as he was.  However, he died doing exactly what he loved to do - tackling the next challenge.

When I was very young my father bought a 1947 seventeen-foot aluminum Grumman canoe.  (Grumman Aircraft was just transitioning to peacetime, recreational production.  This canoe was built to withstand the Apocalypse!).  I don't think my dad knew all that much about canoeing.  However, as was the case with everything he approached in life, he learned quickly and thoroughly.  That began my own passion for vessels designed for moving water and for the adventures on which they could take us.  Right up until the last half decade Dad and took a canoe float together about once a year.

I think my father loved river trips because they embodied his approach to life.  When floating a stream you can't focus on what's behind you.  Your attention has to be on what stretch of the river you're in right now, and on what's ahead of you.  Sometimes you won't know into what kind of water the flow is taking the boat.  But that's the adventure of it; there's always something new ahead.  That's how my dad viewed existence.  The future is filled with uncertainty, possibility, danger, and adventure.   Don't fear it.  Paddle hard into it with hope and courage.

I know people who spend a lot of time looking backward.  They long for a time that once was, which, in their minds or memory, was ideal.  They spend a lot of time in sadness, anger, or fear of "the way things are."  And the future causes them more fear and dread than excitement.  All this is understandable.  I lean that way sometimes myself.  My dad did not.  He believed that, whatever the future had in store, God was already there.  All else in life may change, but the One who came to us in Jesus does not.  So accept the next challenge, wade into it gusto, and paddle with joy.  That was my dad.

Paddle on, Bill Posegate.  The best is yet to come.  And I will see you around the next bend in the river...some day.