Thank you Jesus!

A powerful demonstration of the Gospel

A vision for children and youth ministry

Every Kid

Not just rich kids…every kid.

Not just white kids, not just black kids…every kid.

Not just my kids, not just your kids…but every kid.

Not a lot of kids, not even most kids…every kid.

Not more kids than other churches…every kid.

Not giving just a few kids the opportunity to receive Jesus… but every kid.

Not just the “in crowd,” not just the beautiful, the charming, but every kid.

Not just those with high potential, but every kid.

Not just the loved and loveable, but every kid.

Not just American kids, but every kid.Every Kid!

A dream worthy of my time.

A dream worthy of my energy.

A dream worthy of my money.

A dream worthy of my life.

The Christian Life Is Like...

The Christian life is like an anvil in your backpack, just a heavy weight with no desire or delight, just duty and drudgery that weighs you down with sorrow, like an anvil in your backpack. The Christian life is just like that . . . if you're not living it.
The Christian life is like turkey dinner with all the trimmings, right on the table in front of you, with all the sumptuous aromas rising to your nostrils and your stomach demanding you grab a fork and DIG IN!!! but you can't because you're on a diet and you need to go have another protein shake and let someone else enjoy the meal. The Christian life is exactly like that . . . if you're not living it.
The Christian life is like you're in prison, but just outside your cell are all these people at a festival, eating Mexican and doing the cha-cha, and swinging at this pinatas and laughing and twirling one another about and throwing their heads back with heart-felt laughter, but there you are, gripping the bars and looking on as you try to remember the last time you had fun. The Christian life is just like that . . . if you're not living it.
Too many of us are not really living the Christian life--not really following hard after the Lord, not really seeking His face and devouring His Word, and loving His praise, not telling others about what Jesus can do for them, not really extending ourselves for those who are hurting and spending our lives in service to Christ.
I could go on and on, but I'll just say that you shouldn't judge the Christian life too harshly if you're not really living it. If you feel like you have an anvil in your backpack, all weighed down with guilt and shame and defeat, if you're wondering where all the joy and peace and blessings are--maybe you're not really living the Christian life. James 4:8, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
I've found that the Christian life is AWESOME in every way . . . if you're really living it!

Paradigm Shifts in Evangelism by Donald Miller

Paradigm Shifts for Evangelism
1. Other People Exist: Simply coming to the understanding that the world does not revolve around "me" but that everybody is having an experience, created by God, loved by God, and that we needed to repent of showing partiality…
2. Nobody will listen to you unless they know you like them: We began to understand that people, subconsciously, merit a religious or philosophical idea not on logical conclusions, but on whether or not the idea creates a "good person"…the definition of a good person being whether or not a person is kind to them, tolerant and understanding, able to listen without arguing and so on.
3. Nobody will listen to God unless they know God loves them: We came to believe there was usually a hidden pain behind hostility, that many people have been hurt by the church, or people or perspectives they believed to represent God. Many times its as simple as an interview they saw on CNN, but an apology and kindness went a long way in helping people understand God was loving.
4. Other people have morality and values: We came to understand that Christians do not own morality, that everybody lives by a moral code, not always informed by an ancient text, and yet it is there. Calling people or even thinking of them as immoral was, then, inappropriate. In fact, we often found that people who did not know Christ lived a morality close to his heart in many areas we had ignored, ie; community, tolerance, social justice, fairness and equality, freedom, beauty and so on and so on.
5. Find common ground: Often the morality of others overlapped Christian morality, and we came to understand that in these cases, we would focus on the overlapping issues. We came to see this as kindness, just as though we were on a date or making friends, we did not focus on what we didn’t have in common, but rather on mutual feelings about life. We would not say or do anything to combat people unless they knew we loved them, and this takes a great deal of time.
6. Define terms in their language: We were careful about Christian sayings and phrases that might be offensive: Crusade, sin, immorality….we came to understand that concepts were more sacred than terms…
7. Telling somebody about the gospel is about them, not us: We were careful not to try to "build our organization" and respected peoples freedom and space. Sharing the gospel became an exercise in friendship, rather than an attempt to grow a machine. Often, people feel used if they feel they are being recruited. The gospel, we learned, is really about them, their feelings about God and truth, about sin, about life
8. Don’t let spreading the gospel feel any different than telling somebody about a love in your life, about your children or a great memory: We realized that in telling somebody about Jesus, we were telling them about somebody we have come to love and need, and about something that had happened to us, an encounter. This keeps us from sounding preachy, and allows us to share part of ourselves in a friendship.
9. Include lost People in Your Community: Our organization was not exclusive. We invited non-believers into the community if they wanted to be invited. We were careful not to not be ourselves with them, but they were certainly invited and enjoyed being a part of the group. We explained terms that we used, what we believed, but other than that, continued as normal.
10. Apologize for what you represent: We discovered that many people have been offended or hurt by what they perceive Christianity to be. We allowed ourselves to stand in the place of "Christianity" and apologize whenever necessary.
11. Be authentic: We discovered the need to be as honest about our lives as possible. We did not feel the need to sale Jesus, as much as share what He has done in our broken lives. We had no problem sharing our doubts and fears about faith, along with our commitment and appreciation for what God had done.
12. Pray for the Salvation of others: We discovered the need to pray for others. This would insure God was working in peoples lives, as we asked Him to. We discovered the work of evangelism is something God lets us watch, but very little of it is what we manipulate. We repented of not believing evangelism was a spiritual exchange between a lost person and God, rather than believing it was a series of ideas we were supposed to convince others of.
13. Ask people if they would like to know Christ: We decided to initiate, whenever the relationship called for it. We were not afraid to ask people if they would like to know God.

The whole Gospel

I Want the Whole Gospel: Every single ounce of truth; give it to me straight just like it is in the Bible.

I want the whole gospel: Don't dilute the living water--it might not quench my thirsty soul.

I want the whole gospel:Turn on the light of Jesus Christ and don't shield my view--I need every beam of His radiant glory to dispel the darkness in me.

I want the whole gospel:Don't block the door, or I might not get through.

I want the whole gospel:I need an accurate map to the narrow road, because only a few are finding it.

I want the whole gospel:Because I am wholly lost, God's verdict is wholly just, and my damnation is wholly certain.My heart is wholly depraved and my sin is wholly mine.My efforts are wholly futile and my escapes are wholly hopeless.I need a whole Savior, whose whole suffering, wholly satisfies a holy God.

Please, please don't cut the corners. It's appointed unto man once to die and I have to be sure I get it right.
I have to have the whole gospel--give it to me straight. Nothing else will do!

5 Distortions of the Gospel

Five Distortions of the Gospel in Our Day
1) The Cake Mix Gospel: if we leave out key ingredients our souls will never "rise" to God. We don't need the message reduced to some irreducible elements, we need the whole gospel. You don't expect your car to run without all the parts. You don't expect your body to function without all the organs working properly. You don't expect a cake to taste right if it's rushed and readied without the right ingredients. The gospel without repentance is not the gospel. Acts 18:26, And he [Apollos] began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
2) The Cultural Gospel: Skip the postmodern sales job and go for the heart where human need never changes. Understanding the 'culture' is much less important than knowing what the Bible says about every human heart separated from God. We don't need slick sales people giving out the gospel. We need bold, Spirit-filled messengers with a deep heart of compassion for lost people. The gospel without authoritative/binding truth is not the gospel. Acts 17:30, In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
3) The Cool Gospel: Jesus transcends fashion trends. Marketing Jesus is cheap and powerless. We don't need to 'spin' the message we need to say it. We need to stop shaping Jesus in some misguided effort to make Him appealing. Jesus doesn't need to be like us; we need to be like Him. The gospel wrapped in stylistic packaging is not the gospel. Revelation 3:17 Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
4) The Carnal Gospel: What Jesus can do for me: health, wealth, always happy, never hurting? Jesus solves those issues, but not the way we may think. He'll change what you want a lot more than what you have. The selfish gospel that promises things Jesus doesn't promise is a lie and is sentencing the lost who listen to a shocking surprise in eternity. The gospel of "me before Jesus" is not the gospel. Mark 8:35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
5) The Careful Gospel: Let's not upset anybody, just keep 'em comfortable and coming back, There's lots of time for folks to figure it out. The gospel of "get them to church, and in time everything will come together as long as we don't offend them" is a dangerous gospel. Well intentioned is not enough. The gospel without urgency is not the gospel. 2 Corinthians 6:2, Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION.

Dan Southerland...now what?

I hope you were all energized and captivated by a vision of what could be and what should be as we make the intentional choice to be a church that reaches the lost. Dan spoke well of God's father heart for His people. He spoke of God's desire to see a church that would be as passionate about reaching lost people as He is. To do that means that we make the choice to prioritize lost people over those of us who are currently in the church and know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So, where do we go from here with this? I'd like your input. What sparked inside of you as you heard Dan Southerland speak? What do you think this means for us as a church going forward? I'd love to hear about that.