Go Ye...

This Sunday in our ATB class I will share the updates on our ministry and hopefully clarify our plans to anyone I may have confused. In the excitement of things becoming new I sometimes forget to slow down, breathe, and just be clear without all of the hype. This is truly a fantastic time of taking the great commission into the Atlanta area!

If the part about the ATL makes you wonder, consider this: there are people lost next door to us, at our workplace, in our gyms and often right there next to us at a worship service. They are looking for an answer to a confusing and unsatisfied life. They have heard all the TV preachers hype, been driven reluctantly to church by a loving family, but were so rebellious they did not listen to a word. In other words, they did not receive "The Word".

I love the KJV translation of Go Ye because it reminds me that in Jesus' ministry he never stayed in one place for too long. He was always on the move spreading the word. But I also take the next part of that scripture to heart- "(Go ye)....therefore, and make disciples of all nations." It doesn't say just spread the word, it says "make disciples". Now that my friends, takes much more time.

If we build a ministry that just goes from person to person to teach them that word, it may not do any good unless we live the word with them, showing them not only in words, but in action what it means to be a disciple. To love, to serve, to walk away from evil and do good and to let the word be planted and grow inside our hearts.

In this modern day world of millennials and very short attention spans, how do we attract people on the go to go where they really need to go? You move with them, becoming a dance partner with them in the often volatile tango of life. You teach them the moves, the rhythm of the gospel, and the music of a celebration of life. 

We become mobile, as Jesus was; we become stationary as the temples (and planted churches) were; and we become all things to all men so that we might win some disciples. This takes time and much effort, but in the end, it is exactly what the Lord asks us to do when he says Go Ye!

We are striving to make ATB just like that. We don't want to just spread the word, we want to plant it firmly in hearts that have been broken, shattered, and abused, often by their own self destructive actions. 

In truth, we just want to be some really good farmers that yield a spectacular crop!