Dave is the Senior Pastor of Cypress Bible Church in Cypress, Texas. This column is published weekly and is designed to motivate both corporate and personal life transformation, to help us look more like Christ.
“My food is to do the will of Him Who sent me.”
John 4:34
I am sure you have heard and even said, “Get out of his way he is a man on a mission!”
We say this when someone is driven and relentless and bound to get something done—to gain some position or achieve some goal or acquire some possession. When someone is driven they will drive over others and drive through obstacles to get to their goal.
What is your personal mission? If someone who knows you well could spell out your core mission—the main thing you are driving for—what would they say?
For the entire month of February at CBC we are going to attempt to “ruin your life” for second-class missions. We are going to strive to make you into a “missional” person with a very compelling mission. It is our stated goal to arrest, upset, and re-direct your life.
Be courageous and come out every Sunday in February and to Beyond the Walls (2/4) and to the missionary dinner (2/18) and just see if we can do it. See if we can infect your life with a very compelling mission. Even resist it if you like—come out with a heart of openness or a heart of resistance but just come out.
Come to every last opportunity in February at The Building Bridges Series and risk a radical redefinition of your personal mission. I triple dog dare ya!
According to my iPhone count-down app it is just 5.4 days until I hug my kids and grandkids at our Christmas gathering! I have been anticipating this gathering for months and months.
An upcoming event, properly anticipated, delivers joy twice—once in the anticipation and once in the event. Our family will, God willing, be all together at Christmas for the first time since 1997. We have been together for weddings and other gatherings but this is the first time at Christmas for 14 years. I can hardly wait. I started the count-down app on my phone when there were still more than 130 days to go and I have been happily looking forward to this reunion the entire time. 5.4 days!!! (By the time you read this just 3.4 days!)
There are countless children counting down to Christmas and the opening of gifts. There are countless parents, spouses, and children counting down to the return of their loved one from Iraq. There are countless football fans counting down to the national championship or the Super Bowl. There are countless inmates counting down to their release day. There are countless brides counting down to their wedding day. There are countless grandparents counting down to the birth of their first grandchild. For certain things we are very good at counting down.
It is spiritually profitable to anticipate blessings that are coming up. Anticipating these things causes us to appreciate the gifts of God more and to thank Him more. Anticipating causes us to realize that the upcoming event is not guaranteed—that in a very uncertain world the arrival of the event is another reminder of the goodness and kindness of God. Anticipating well gives us joy in the waiting.
The Advent Season is a time-tested spiritual discipline of anticipation—looking forward to celebrating the day of Jesus’ birth. Advent is an intentional focus on the first coming of the Messiah and all the gratitude and joy that goes with a Gift of that size and quality. The Advent Calendar and the Advent Wreath and the Advent Candles were all designed to help us anticipate well the celebration of Christmas.
Referring to the Second Advent of Jesus, Paul said that he “loved His appearing.” Paul longed deeply for the return of the Son of God. He was practicing the spiritual discipline of anticipating—focusing his thoughts and his heart on the wonderful and important return of Jesus. Paul’s ability to “love the appearing of Jesus” made him very skillful at honoring Jesus in the meantime.
We live between the two greatest events in human history—the First Advent of Jesus and the Second Advent of Jesus.
With our Advent Wreath we anticipate the celebration of the First Advent. With our hearts we “love the appearing” of Jesus at the Second Advent. What are you “counting down” to? Is the Second Advent of Jesus one of those events?
“What three changes would make an 80% difference in your life?”
“New actions lead to new outcomes.”
“The things you are currently doing are perfect for getting the outcomes you are currently getting.”
“Incremental goals involve only doing more of what you are currently doing. Transformational goals involve doing new things.”
Four paraphrases of Jim Herrington, Mission Houston
We are closing in on the New Year and the time of new beginnings. Once again, in the kindness of God, we have a chance to renew our commitment to be better people and live differently and jettison bad habits and live in harmony with our beliefs and values and our fellow man.
I love making goals and having new beginnings and anticipating a fresh start. I love these things but they often do not help much. The list is often vague, un-measurable, and too grandiose. It is so easy to spend our lives with beautiful, even grandiose, dreams of who we will be, and yet never really change anything in our choices and habits.
Here is a typical list of Near Year’s Resolutions:
- I will get down to the weight I was in high school.
- I will pay off my all my credit cards.
- I will save up for a better car.
- I will be kind to everyone.
- I will organize my garage and home office.
- I will write one note a week to someone who needs encouragement.
- I will read one book a week.
- I will volunteer at a homeless shelter one time each week.
- I will keep my house in “company condition” at all times.
- I will attend worship, small group, prayer meeting, and ministry meeting every week.
- I will stop playing Spider Solitaire and Angry Birds—cold turkey (forgive me).
- I will organize the people at my work into a volunteer service team.
- I will jump over the moon.
This is an ambitious list and will certainly result in both failure and depression—even before you get to the jump over the moon part. At times we are our own worst enemies because our resolutions are just ridiculous—too many and too big and too much.
I read an author who said there are three high-leverage changes you could make in your life that would make an 80% improvement in your life.
I am not going to say that this came out of the Bible and I am not going to defend the number “3” or the number “80.” But I will say that each one of our lives would probably be better in 2012 if we instilled three very high-leverage changes than if we make the list that I made above.
In my own life the successes I have experienced in addressing long-term problems—weight management, debt management, disorganization, etc—have all come as a result of new actions. Doing more of what I am already doing is seldom the solution to problems in my life.
Maybe you would try a simple exercise. List on the left side of a blank sheet of paper your three most frustrating problems. In the middle of the sheet—across from each problem—list one or two specific things you are already doing about each problem. Then on the right side of the paper list one new activity for each of the problems. Do not make this complicated: Three problems. Current actions. Three new actions—one for each problem.
Now of course the key to the new action for each problem is choosing the right action. Simply because an action is new does not mean it will help—it could actually hinder.
Here is my main point today. Instead, of making a laundry list of vague resolutions would you choose three high-leverage new actions and practice them faithfully?
“What three changes would make an 80% difference in your life?”
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
Annie Dillard
“I always made the mistake of thinking that today was some sort of rehearsal for tomorrow.”
Patrick Foley in “The Earthling”
It is so easy to spend our lives with beautiful, even grandiose, dreams of who we will be and what we will accomplish while living today in utter mediocrity.
The Christian faith is a daily faith. That is not to say we should not remember the past—a great memory is a powerful spiritual tool and the Bible is continually reminding us about past realities. It is also not to say that we should not look forward to the future—settled hope is commanded of us as we think about eternity and about God’s many promises.
But our faith is substantially daily in the sense that God expects our obedience and trust today. He expects our service today. He expects us to grow today. He expects us to keep planted in today and not worry about tomorrow—tomorrow will have enough worries of its own. He commands that we resist temptation today. He aches for us to seek Him in fellowship today.
God expects us to live today in such a way that we progress toward the character and service that He has envisioned for each one of us individually. I will not reach the final day of my life as the person God envisioned unless I am living today squarely on the path that takes me there.
We can have setbacks and bad days to be sure. But God is a redeemer of setback lives. What we cannot have is day after day after day of horrible choices and eventually get to a good outcome.
I am insane to think I can live today in mediocrity, disobedience, anxiety, and sloppiness, and still hope to become someone of character and to accomplish something of value. How I am living today is taking me to my legacy. My life today, stacked up with all my days, is my life. There is no alchemy of time that takes “lead days” and transforms them into a “gold life.”
As Annie Dillard said so profoundly, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
Today is your life. Keep living like you are living today and you can extrapolate to exactly where you are going to be at the end of life. You can extrapolate to the kind of person you will be and to the things you will have accomplished.
Today is the day, empowered by God’s Spirit, to be and become the person God envisioned. Today’s choices are critical. They are pivotal. They make all the difference in the world.
Today is not a rehearsal. Today is the game. Today is the real thing. Your whole life is, in a sense, lived today.
“When you go into the wilderness you will find that Jesus is already there.”
A friend of mine is in a very hard time. She is dying of abdominal cancer. Her strength is very low. She is on oxygen. She sleeps 20 hours a day. She has lost a lot of weight. She is constantly sick to her stomach. She drinks very little and eats even less. In days or weeks she will be in the very presence of God. Her family is walking with her but the main Person coming alongside her is God.
I know a man who just lost his wife due to his workaholism. He is a “Type A,” Driver, Driver who made a boatload of money in his profession and came home one day to a wife who said, “I’m done with this.” His obsession with his work and his ignoring of his family for a couple of decades brought his wife to exasperation and she took the kids and left him. The wife and kids are hurting big time. God is walking with them. The husband is hurting big time. God is walking with him.
A family I have known for years had to give up their home due to prolonged unemployment. They moved in with extended-family. Major adjustments had to be made. Everything has changed. They suffered a major setback. God walks with them.
These are very difficult times for these people. My own situation is far less dire but still has its challenges with workload and resources and health concerns and uncertainties about the future.
Your situation may be dire or bitterly difficult or mildly challenging or OK or pretty good. In any level of thriving or surviving it is centrally God Who walks with you. As Mary said 2,000 years ago in Luke 1 and I said in the message this past Sunday He is “mighty, near, and for us.”
To put is succinctly: God is mighty, near, and for you—and He is with you all the time. You never walk alone.
You never walk alone, but what you may do is forget that you never walk alone. It is so easy in our lives to encounter choppy waters and immediately begin to feel that God is not powerful or He is not close or He does not care much about us. Choppy waters for a few days are usually navigable but as those choppy waters stretch into weeks, months and years we easily get down. We easily feel abandoned. We easily fear the future.
Could you use a reminder about the reality that this mighty, near, and “for us” God is with you?
On Sunday December 11th at 5 PM, CBC is presenting a multi-faceted Christmas program entitled “God with Us!” It is an hour and fifteen minutes of music, testimonies, dramas, and videos that highlight the truth that God walks with us at all times.
We are trying to do two things with this brief time on Sunday evening the 11th.
First, we are trying to give courage to those of us who know Christ and yet are walking through some tough times. We are striving to remind ourselves about our Companion in the choppy waters.
Second, we are trying to give you an opportunity to invite friends who may be in need of finding God in their hard times. We will have fliers in the bulletin this coming Sunday and we so hope that you will continue to cultivate your friendship with unchurched people by inviting them to God with Us!
I have been lost in the woods a few times. When I am alone and lost, it is very difficult. When I am with someone and lost, it is only a nuisance.
Sunday December 11th at 5 PM: “God with Us!” Bring a friend please.
“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Ann Voskamp is the wife of a pig farmer in Canada. In 2010 she released what I consider to be a spiritually brilliant book—it has helped and challenged and lifted me in so many ways. It is not an ordinary book. It is one of those books that grabs you by the lapels of your soul and pulls you back to God and back to reality and back to sanity and back to joy. The book is entitled One Thousand Gifts.
Ann set out to write down 1,000 gifts that God has given to her and in so doing to cultivate a heart of gratitude and come into great connection with the Father Who has blessed her so richly. I should say that Ann is wonderfully blessed by God but that she does not lead a charmed life. She is a farm wife with 6 kids whom she home schools. Her farmer husband is fighting to keep the family fed and keep the farm in very hard economic times. Her life, like ours, has plenty of hardships and challenges. Her life, like ours, brings her to bed at the end of many days fully exhausted.
In her book Ann argues that one of the core routes to joy and sanity is cultivating an inner gratitude that is fully connected with who God is and with all that He has done for you. And, He has done a great deal for her. To be sure, He has done a great deal for you even if you are in a very rocky place right now.
The core of this book is built around the Greek word “eucharisteo” which means “to thank or to give thanks.” The noun and adjective forms of this root word mean “the act of giving thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude, thankfulness, and mindful of benefits.” The root word can also speak of “the gentle cheerfulness of a grateful heart.”
Here is how Ann explains this heart of thanksgiving.
“The root word of eucharisteo is “charis”, meaning “grace.” Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks.
But there is more, and I read it. Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelops the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” Joy. Ah…yes. I might be needing me some of that. That might be what the quest for more is all about—that which Augustine claimed, “Without exception…all try their hardest to reach the same goal, that is, joy.”” (Page 32)
And so when we cultivate a heart of thanksgiving, of eucharisteo, we recognize the gifts and grace we have been given. We draw near to the Giver. We experience joy. We stop focussing on what we do not have and what we want. We stop thinking that these things will make life good for us.
Life is already good for us. It is good for us because of Who God is and because of what He has done and because of how He feels about us. We can declare with Asaph, “The nearness of God is my good.” (Psalm 73:28) And, we can make that declaration at any time.
As part of the discipline of cultivating a heart-level eucharisteo Ann Voskamp began a list of 1,000 things for which she was thankful. Each day she intentionally watched for the things that spoke of the Giver and of His grace and of His joy.
Here are some of her eucharisteo items:
- Morning light across old floors
- Jam piled high on the toast
- Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce.
16. Leafy life scent of the florist shop
17. The creak of her old knees
18. Wind flying cold wind in hair
37. Windmills droning in day’s last breeze
38. Wool sweaters with turtleneck collars
54 Moonlight on pillows
55. Long, lisped prayers
56. Kisses in dark
119. Still warm cookies
243. Clean sheets smelling like wind
362. Suds…all color in sun
Ann’s book and her list inspired me to pursue God through eucharisteo. I want more of God and more joy and more connection with the grace and gift in my life. I want more spiritual sanity.
- The Father
- The Son
- The Holy Spirit
- Creation
- Word
- Salvation
- Forgiveness
- Kathi
- Amy
79. Tools
88. Egg Nog
109. Humor
154. Paper, pens, pencils, journals
207. A cool, clear, fall morning—and Saturday morning to boot!
220. Being able to walk
241. Watching people finish well
248. My gray stocking cap—warm, soft, comfortable
249. An elder meeting that works
250. The smell of black coffee brewing at 5:30 AM
I am up to number 255 and the points of eucharisteo come so easily when I am just paying attention. The discipline of paying attention is helping me in my walk with God.
Ann’s list is good but her book is more than a list—far more. It is a primer on gratitude and sanity and grace and joy and connection with God.
Today is Eucharisteo Day. Would you read the book? Would you start your list? Would you be intentional about gratitude and sanity and grace and joy and connection with God?
I’ll help you get started:
- Eucharisteo Day.
- A computer on which to read this post
- _____________________________
Just pay attention. The other 998 will come to you easily.
“…forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.”
Colossians 3:13
One of the main things I need from you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is to be forgiven. I haven’t done something major and immoral and heinous—this article is not a cowardly way to make a confession of something. Rather this is an acknowledgement of the fact that I often sin against Kathi and against you and against others too numerous to mention.
Sometimes my sin is the sin of omission and lack of attentiveness. For these things I need forgiveness. Sometimes my sin is the sin of speaking before I think. For these sins I need forgiveness. Sometimes my sin is the sin of intentional malice and unkindness—an intentional interpersonal ugliness. For these acts and/or words I need your forgiveness. Sometimes my sin is the sin of insensitivity—trying to be funny and to look clever, without considering the words or the negative impact. For these I need forgiveness.
One of the many beautiful and unique things about the Christian faith is the high standard of forgiveness and the ability to extend forgiveness. God expects us to forgive and He enables us to forgive—we have the resources to set down grudges and forgive and reset in our relationships.
Here is the overview of the interpersonal relationship commands from Colossians 3:13:
- Forgive one another. No caveats. No excuses. No delays. No rationalizing. No retaliating. No limits. No extenuating circumstances. No circling back to pick up the offense again. No collecting of injustices. No nothing! There is nothing unclear here. There is nothing open to debate or interpretation. Just, forgive one another.
- Forgive if you have a complaint against anyone else. Don’t just forgive family or friends or the people you like or the people you think “deserve” to be forgiven. Forgive “anyone” against whom you have a complaint. Just anyone.
- Forgive exactly as the Lord has forgiven you. Exactly!!! Forgive despite the person’s lack of merit or even lack of apologizing. Forgive despite the person’s lack of love. Forgive despite the person’s malice and selfishness. Forgive despite the person’s repeated sins. Do act to protect yourself against ongoing harm but do forgive. Forgiving exactly like Jesus forgave you may be the highest bar that anyone ever set. We are capable of clearing this bar—that’s not the problem. We have the resources to do what God commands us to do. The issue is choice. It is about our willingness to set down an offense and not make life all about us and give grace and forgive.
So, if you have a complaint against me please let me know and please forgive me. If you have a complaint against anyone please forgive them. It is the only spiritually sane thing to do in light of what Jesus did in forgiving you.
“Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”
Jesus in Matthew 4:19
Most cartoons that are forwarded to me are dumb or suggestive or political or inane and should be deleted rather than forwarded. But the other day a friend emailed a cartoon to me that was very compelling. I have not stopped thinking about this cartoon since I got it.
The cartoon is a picture of Jesus, with robes and beard and sandals, sitting on a park bench next to a young man who has a backpack. They are looking at each other and obviously having a conversation. The caption has Jesus speaking and it says, “No, I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow Me.”
To follow someone on Twitter is to receive their tweets on your mobile device and read whatever they wrote—which will be short at 140 characters or less—and then go on with life. A tweet could possibly have some life-changing effect on a person but that is certainly not very common. To follow someone on Twitter is really easy and requires almost no effort and calls for no response and seldom calls for any action. To follow someone on Twitter is to read 140 characters or less once a day or once a week.
So, your mobile device beeps. You look at the screen to see that some famous person whom you are following on Twitter says, “I hate rude drivers!” You have just successfully “followed” some famous person. You read four words—20 characters including spaces—and you are a successful follower of said famous person. (By the way, “I hate rude drivers!” is so profound and so unique. This is a thought that no one ever had before but now it has been added to the collective knowledge of mankind!)
To follow Jesus is starkly different. To follow Jesus is to give to Him your entire life.
- It is to read everything He wrote through His Spirit. (“Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”)
- It is to believe everything He wrote. (“Without faith it is impossible to please God.”)
- It is to respond to everything He wrote. (“If you hear my words and obey them you will be like a man who builds his house on the rock.”)
- It is to obey everything He wrote. (“If you love Me you will keep My commandments.”)
- It is to become an avid fisher of the souls of people. (“Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”)
- It is to give to Him your whole life. (“If anyone wants to become My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”)
Is your “following” of Jesus more like Twitter or more like denying yourself?
Here is the ironic kicker: The more you invest in following someone the more you receive from following that one. Invest the time to read 140 characters and there is very little return. Invest your entire life in following Jesus and there is literally infinite return.
Is your “following” of Jesus more like Twitter or more like denying yourself?
What would it take in your life to move more toward denying yourself for Jesus?
By the way, I’m getting on Twitter and I hope you will follow me. I promise to never tweet “I hate rude drivers!” Someone famous already said that. I promise I will tweet stuff like, “Following someone on Twitter is different than following Jesus.” Think about it.
When I taught at Alaska Bible College we took a team of students to play in a basketball tournament about 140 miles from our campus. Our team consisted of two excellent guards and eight mediocre players. I was our center, I was “past my prime” and my prime wasn’t much.
We got up to the tournament and, long story short, we took third place. We got hammered in the first game by a team of “ringers” from the local Air Force base. Then we fought our way up through the loser’s bracket and won all of our remaining games to place third.
We were marginal in talent compared to all the teams in the tournament but we were truly a team. We worked together and had a greater commitment to team success than to personal glory.
In our final game, playing for third place, we faced “Fast Eddie’s Pizza.” Fast Eddy was a former high school star who owned a pizza joint in that town and who was still, at 40, an amazing basketball player. He could shoot from outside. He could jump. He could dribble. He could drive the lane. He was very fast and very quick. He was something.
The one flaw of Fast Eddie’s game, and it was a huge flaw, was that he was a total ball hog, a one-man show, a “get me the ball and I will shoot” guy.
In that final game against Fast Eddy and his “group” (not team) we played the best team ball of our tournament. We triple teamed Fast Eddy—but he still would not give up the ball. We hustled. We passed to the open guy. We sacrificed. We knocked ourselves out in the effort. We played a kind of team ball that I have seldom been part of in all my years in sports.
Fast Eddy scored more than 40 points. The other four guys in his group combined for 4 points. We won the game by 2 or 3 points. No one on our team scored in double digits.
Tim Elmore in an article entitled “Why Teams Work” quotes an author named Winkie Pratney who suggested that there are three key elements of teams that excel. The teams that have high impact all have these:
First, they have a sense of Destiny. They simply believe that they are going to do great things. Somehow they get the idea—and keep the idea—that they are going to make a tremendous impact in the world or in their league or in their field. This is not based on an assessment of their talent or resources but on some gut-level conviction that they are just destined for great work. Elmore says that it cannot be conjured up. It is rather “caught” somehow by the team and then it drives the team to great achievement. He says the sense of destiny is a perception of great things rather than an assessment that they have great potential because of their talent.
Second, they have a sense of Family. These high functioning teams love each other as people and care for each other and are committed to one another’s success. They go the extra mile to help each other. They make friendship connections that go beyond the office. They protect each other. They trust each other. Elmore said that, “great teams are more about trust than talent.”
Third, they have a Militant Spirit. By this Elmore means they have a radical passion to figure out how to win. They have a “whatever it takes” mentality when it comes to achieving their goals and winning in their field and making a difference in their world. They have a spirit of determination in the face of obstacles. They have a defiance that says, “We will get this done—come hell or high water we will get this done.”
Now, the critical question is this: “How would a group get these three things and turn into a team?”
Elmore’s conclusion: “I don’t know about you—but I long to play on a team like that. Few get to do it. When groups of people are willing to set aside their own agendas, however, it can happen. And when it does, it makes people marvel.”
“When groups of people are willing to set aside their own agendas…” This is so crucial to becoming a team.
God framed it this way in Philippians 2:3, 4: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
The willingness of an entire group of people to set aside personal interests/agendas and focus on the interest of the group transforms them into a team and that opens the door to high impact.
Fast Eddy scored a lot of points and his group lost. No one on our team scored many points and our team won. He was more talented than anyone we had. We were more sacrificial than he ever thought of being.
First, what do you really think God might do through us as a Body? Would you give this some thought and prayer?
Second, do you cultivate a sense of family in the Body? Would you give this some thought and prayer?
Third, do you have a radical passion for us to “get it done/whatever it takes” in Celebrating God, Building Bridges, and Connecting Together? Would you give this some thought and prayer?
Each one of us has the ability to move us a notch closer to the high functioning team.
“Church ain’t shucks to a circus.”
Huck Finn in Huck Finn
Huck Finn, the famous, fictional character created by Mark Twain, expressed the opinions of Mark Twain. When you create a character you can make him say whatever you want. In Mark Twain’s opinion a circus was a much better experience than a church service. Twain had no use for God or for church.
At CBC this weekend we are offering both a “circus” (Fall Fest on Saturday) and “church” (worship services on Sunday.) I am sure Huck Finn and Mark Twain would prefer the Fall Fest. Truthfully, lots of people in our zip code would also prefer the Fall Fest. That is part of why we are doing the Fall Fest—but not all of why we are doing it.
I remember attending a carnival in our grade school when I was in either second or third grade. It was in Spearfish Central Elementary School in Spearfish, South Dakota and I had a wonderful time. I remember winning some candy and playing some games and getting some cheap toys and, glory of all glories, winning a cake in the cake walk! A huge, homemade cake! I carried that cake home like a king coming back from a battle with the crown jewels of the vanquished king. I won a cake and that is something that will lodge in a kid’s memory!
It was a great evening for me. I remember it decades later.
That carnival in that school those decades ago was to raise money for field trips or PTA (PTO) snacks or new uniforms for the penny whistle band or something like that.
We are offering a “carnival” on Saturday (3 to 6 PM) in order to give some kids and families a wonderful memory. And in order to give some families a fun and safe thing to do together. And in order to demonstrate the generosity of God. (We shell out money for this event and certainly do not make any.) And to give you opportunity to nurture relationships with your unchurched friends. And to show goodwill to our community. And to get unchurched people on our campus. And to give us a chance to work together in serving others. And to increase the ways that we are “Invested!” in God’s work. And to show ourselves friendly. And to give a gentle Gospel witness. And to make connections that might lead to church attendance and to salvation and to baptism and to maturity and to leadership and to multiplication.
Think about this friends: We could paint a kid’s face and that family connect with CBC and that kid come to faith and that kid come to maturity and that kid become our senior pastor and that kid write a pivotal book and that kid found a mission to serve handicapped kids. And it might all begin because one of you painted his face at Fall Fest!
Join the adventure with us! Pray. Invite. Give candy. Serve for one of the shifts. Get Invested!
