Zingers

Been a long time since my last entry.

Sorry about that.

OK, so I am perusing through my bookshelf and as we all do – we have little gems just IDLING that have remained mostly unread and then one day POW – for whatever reason, we grab it and then laugh as we voraciously consume it – wondering why we hadn’t read it more when we first got it.

Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, edited by D.A. Carson is just this book. For pete’s sake, it came out in 2000 and though I have perused it in the past – I found a chapter by Ron Bennett that resonates with me and our own philosophy of evangelism at Saddleback.

Here are some zingers:

• He has found that evangelism comes out of a vibrant relationship with Jesus – not giftedness. Jesus says “Follow me AND I will make you fishers of men.” Not simply recruiting them to fish.
  


• "How is our personal way with lost people – Jesus walked, talked, served, touched and had compassion on them [Matt 9.36-39]."
  


• "As long as people are just out there – nameless, faceless, storyless – we are comfortable with our isolation. Discover a name and a story - and we become invested."
  

Identify Your THREE Audiences:

Lost within the church – Challenge: they are carelessly comfortable within the church culture. Do we have a strategy to reach them?

Lost who will visit the church – Challenge: Many are parents who want a moral foundation for kids, they don’t realize their own need or have not found church to be relevant. Many have found life not working out so come to figure it out.

Lost who won’t come to church – Challenge: Doesn’t matter how many flyers, bullhorns or emails you send them – they ain’t coming. Got to go where they are, build trust through relationship and time.

Oh, I got plenty more from Mr. Ron Bennett but that should be enough to noodle on.

Reflection:

• Personal – What is the connection between how authentic our love for Jesus is with how compassionate we are for His lost around us?
  


• Church Leader - What audience have we neglected in our church strategy? What are ideas to address them?