April 20, 2020 - Let's Get After It!!!

Last week we talked of how to get stronger and better during this “off-season” of quarantine… yet it has not been totally an “off-season” in that we still have opportunities to Go MAD (Make A Difference)! I think this falls under the category of being “ready in season and out of season” (Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2… which carries the idea of being ready no matter what.)

In this time, the church (corporately and individually) has had to adapt to a new game plan… and it has been amazing to see that “attendance” in services has actually been up in many cases (albeit virtually): and the church has in many ways got back to part of its purpose in meeting needs via foodbanks, etc.

Now we find ourselves on the cusp of society opening back up and we have some choices to make on whether things go back like they were (‘yesterday”), or if we will look at ways to reach the world today…

This is on my mind after reading a devotional from John Maxwell on leadership, and he made the following observations: “Any baseball player can tell you that today’s homerun has no bearing on tomorrow’s game… Just because something worked well yesterday, that doesn’t mean it will remain effective today; and what works today might not be the right tool for tomorrow.” (And may I remind us that leadership, according to Christ, is simply servanthood!)

Maxwell pointed out the story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem; the fact that not only did everyone pitch in for their part of the building process, but when the situation changed and enemies arose, each also had to adapt and be armed for battle as well.

I think of Paul talking of how he had to approach cultures differently so he “might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)

These changing times should cause us to reflect on how we reach our culture… and I often teach a few key things concerning this:

1.       Our message is NEVER-changing… but our methods should be EVER-changing!

2.       Anything short of sin is valid in outreach…

3.       And my number 1 rule of being on-mission: Be dogmatically committed to flexibility!

“So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6)

I chose this verse to encourage us each to be on-mission (have a mind to work), yet also to remind us there is still plenty of “building” left to do… In sports, it can often be heard: Let’s get after it!!!