Category — Observations

There are many more great ideas yet to be discovered than all of us together have stumbled across. As I tally it, there are 300 plus outreach projects to date. Some of them are really cool, but the best ideas are yet to be found. The iPhone 5 is coming out in a few weeks. It will blow away all cell phones to date, but In technology the coolest things are still to come down the pipeline (thank you Steve Jobs and friends).

All inspiration is ultimately from God whether the receiver of that acknowledges it or not. Of course he needs our willingness to take the kernel he provides and work our tails off in order to get that idea in shape, but all seminal ideas originate with God.

He wants to birth an idea through you. He says, “Open your mouth, and I will fill it.” Open up wide. Here it comes.

A while back I ran into a guy at church who looked a lot like someone I had seen on some album covers so I told him that with a little chuckle. He said, “That’s because I am that guy.” Turns out he was a part of the Eagles. One day not long after becoming a Believer he woke up and God told him he had to drop out of the band.
I thought, Did he really need to quit the band? Couldn’t he have stayed there and been a witness, and continued to collect millions a year? I thought, Too bad I wasn’t his friend when this was all going down. I could have counseled him with some wisdom and he could still be collecting millions in concert revenues. His tithe could come in handy (the things pastors think of…) I asked him Couldn’t you have just stayed in the band as a Christian Eagle (you’ve heard that line of thinking before). His answer floored me. “God told me to quit and follow him. I didn’t know any better than to just obey him.” God give us that brand of profound obedience.

It is common that as we get involved in changing the world that every once in a while we want to throw in the towel. I’ve been there numbers of times. Fortunately that desire usually goes away after a few hours or days. But it’s worth thinking through – what are we to do when we can’t get over the desire to quit. Instead of listing a ton of practical steps (which you could probably write yourself) it is enough to say this: we can’t quit. When we believe quitting isn’t an option we change the game entirely. Here’s some wisdom – just stop dwelling on this as an option. When MJ (Mary Jane) and I got married we decided that no matter how crazy we made each other we would never use the D word in conversation or as a threat. We’ve stuck to that for over 32 years now. You do the same with the Q word.

You are not responsible for making something happen. You don’t know what will happen as you obey God in the realm of evangelism. It’s up to God to produce fruit. God is the one who produces fruit forever and always. Our role is to show up in faithfulness with a smile and a bit of anticipation.

…once they experience a bit of the joy of it. I use the term “Kindness outreach” instead of “Servant Evangelism” at first to woo people into the cusp of outreach, but then I don’t worry about using the “E” word. Once they experience it they are no longer fearful. As one formerly fearful guy recently asked as he beamed, “Does this ever get old?”