e-news for week of 12/25/11

New Vistas.

Hiking in the mountains can really give you spectacular glimpses of God’s creation. I love new vistas on the way up. There will be parts of the hike where there’s a clearing and you are able to see for miles. At each new vista, you can make a choice – the choice to say, “Wow – that’s a great view – I don’t think it can get much better than this. I’m tired and I don’t want to expend the energy or the effort to keep climbing” or the choice to say, “Here we go. We’re moving higher.” Pushing yourself forward, forgetting what’s behind you, pressing forward and going for it is a great choice and here’s why:

The view from the top of the climb is unparalleled.

2012 Begins

January 1, 2012 falls on Sunday. What better way to start the year off right: connecting with God in His word, having communion with Him, and spending time in worship. Our mission is to intentionally connect people with Jesus.

Over 1000 of us ended the year in worship last weekend. That’s a great way to end a year. Last year was truly an incredible year of ministry. Our mission is to intentionally connect people to Jesus. That has happened a lot this past year.

As a ministry, 2012 needs to purposefully center on intentionally connecting people to Jesus.

I was at one of the packed MU football games with one of my friends. It was one of those 70,000+ attendance days at Faurot. The weather was perfect. The Tigers were winning (MIZ…). I don’t know that it could have been a more picture perfect day. As I sat there enjoying a great friend at a great game with great weather, a very odd realization came over my spirit. I meet with local pastors and from best guesses among us there are roughly 40,000 people connected to churches in Columbia (with about 25,000 attending those churches – sound like a lot right?). I realized and said to my friend, “If there were a church the size of everybody at Faurot field WITH all the other churches in town keeping the exact same numbers there would still be roughly 40,000 people (when you factor in student population) in order to fully reach Columbia.”

And as I looked at that sea of people, I was quickly reminded of the need for disciples of Jesus to fully be His disciples. This new vista made me uncomfortable.

Friends, I love what God is doing at Forum. But when it comes to reaching lost people, we can’t be content. I’m not going to rest until every person in Columbia has been connected to Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we start a brand new series called, “Not a fan.” Jesus calls you to a new place of following and commitment. We can’t sit on the sidelines with people all around us not knowing Jesus Christ as Lord. It’s game time and it’s time for all of us to fully engage. Looking forward to Sunday. – Scott