My return to Houston brought me a surprise that I did not anticipate nor one I enjoy. You see, upon my return home I found that the previous week’s storm had damaged my cable provider’s ability to service our home with Internet service. So, my entire system at home (including all things cable) is completely down. I have approximately 1.7 miles of cable running throughout my home to provide all kinds of technological services, but because a connection is broken I am, metaphorically speaking, sitting in the dark. I am disconnected from the outside world.
So much of my work is done via the Internet that this disruption causes severe inconvenience and to me, much worse. It effectively cuts me off from those I communicate with on a constant basis. This disruption in service interferes with my relationships to ministries around the world. My ability to receive “real-time” information regarding our church family is limited and my ability to communicate what God is doing is temporarily challenged.
What I normally do with ease must now be achieved by archaic means and the value of my time is excoriated by inefficiency and cumbersome exercises.
This temporary inconvenience spoke a volume of truth to me this morning in my prayer time. Is it possible for church leaders to have lived and worked so efficiently through the means of all types of “aids” for so long – that we (corporately speaking) have allowed many of our North American churches to run on auto-pilot. You borrow from this one, you take from that one, and you throw something together for Sunday’s message, late Saturday night. And Walla – you learn to mark the weeks by what’s NOT happening… getting along to go along. As a leader, what did NOT happen can be huge. No one left the church. No one filed for divorce. No one quit Sunday school. No one became derelict in his or her nursery duties. No one quit the choir. No one cussed out the parking attendants. No one broke into the buses. The list goes on and on until soon, if we are not careful, our ministry modus operandi is to chart progress by what DIDN’T happen.
The danger is that to live by this philosophy is to live in contradiction to our calling into the Jesus mission. Why? Because our “missional call” is in conflict with easy living and seemingly effortless leading. Our “call” to evangelize our world is disruptive. It is expensive. It is burdensome. It is dangerous. It is taxing. It is work. It is anything – but easy!
What if you were wholly responsible for the evangelization of this people planet? What if you had no one to help you but Jesus! I believe we would operate differently. I believe we would pray differently. I believe we would dream differently. Passion would become our friend again. You see, passion is the combustion of our experience in Christ that propels us into methods that affect our mission for Christ.
I want a renewed, holy fervor for souls like I have never had before. Jesus is coming back and my passion for His lost sheep still trumps any other desire I know. I want to be the best soul winner my community has ever seen. I want to be a fervent worshipper, who lifts Jesus up. I want to be a passion driven leader whose cause is the heart of God.
Friends, we can live this experience with technology, or without it. You can do it with a thousand friends, or all by yourself. Just do it! No limits! No excuses! No interruptions of service!
