Category — Servant Evangelism

Missouri Is Happening

I just got back from a trip to Missouri – I was in Springfield and Columbia. The kingdom is alive and well in both places. People are excited about extending the kingdom in big ways. I am thrilled to be included in what the Father is doing these days. I grew up in Kansas – in the Wichita area. I was inclined to think that the people who live in Missouri – and who follow Missouri sports teams especially – were a little off kilter. Such categorical thinking goes with the territory of growing about anywhere I guess.

Today God is on the move in a big way in good ‘ol Missouri. It is exciting to meet people who have been persevering in serving, praying and connecting with their community. I mentioned during one talk that I have planted several churches and, “who knows, maybe I will end up here in Missouri one day.” Four people came up to me after I finished talking to further inquire about my church planting plans. I was making a comment in passing, but it certainly was encouraging to hear the hearts of a number of people who are looking for cool spiritual things to happen in the Show Me State.

When inclement weather hits it is surprisingly not the time to draw back and wait for the climate to change. We have an amazing open door before us when bad weather strikes. On bad weather days those we serve actually are far more impressed by our stick-tuitiveness than when we go out to serve on good weather days.
I just got back from serving people on the north side of Philly in a spring NorEaster storm. We had planned to go out today for some time so when bad weather hit we merely stuck to our original plan. It seemed like everyone we came in contact with was more in tune with our serving because of the horrid conditions. Some actually said, “You are out in this weather? You are either really committed or you are a little crazy.” The right answer is we are both a little nuts and we are super committed.
It is exciting to run into challenging conditions. When that hits – and it will sooner or later – don’t step around it. This might well be an amazing opportunity to stand out.

It only takes a little bit of life to make a difference. Sometimes we talk ourselves out of attempting something significant for God because we think it takes a great thing to make a dent in life. Nothing could be further from reality. God delights in taking something rather small, anointing it and blessing it to become a great thing.
God is looking for hearty people who are willing to step out of their ruts and risk with him. He is interested in setting up adventures with those who will risk the way forward.
Most of what we do is small stuff. That is the way life is set up. It is best that we give up on the notion of major accomplishments being the goal in life. What is left is the many things we can do that are small but significant in God’s hands.

I recently sat down with Doug Roe, pastor of the Dayton Vineyard, and interviewed him about committing for the long haul to the project God is working through you.  I did a brief 5 minute outtake of the interview that you can watch right now at the ServeCoach blog.  The full interview will be on ServeCoach.com later this week.  Check out the video and leave a comment on the blog with your thoughts.

As we continue with serving it becomes fairly normal that we will expand to multiple services. By serving we are folding into the community in creative ways with the life of God. That life has a way of making room for itself much like the verse in Proverbs, “your gifts will make room for you.” So it is that our gifts make spectacular room for us in the current scenarios we find ourselves in.

Let’s serve with all our hearts and leave the details of how things work out up to God. More to come on the planning details to keep in mind when expanding toward multiple services. Key thought though is decide you are open to the notion of more services for now and are willing to pay the price to get from here to there. Once that quality decision has been made you can go a long way toward accomplishing your goal.