Today at SRC something out of the ordinary happened. I didn't ask for people to raise their hands in response to the message. I spoke on Communion and challenged the people that some of them would choose to become a follower of Jesus teachings when they approached the table. One man was dissappointed that I didn't ask people to raise their hand and this is why...
5 years ago or so a family began attending Pasadena A/G. Their son was in my youth group, and the mother had given her life to Jesus. And an oddity happened. The Father began attending weekly services at the church. He became the first of many people I began to meet who attended church regularly, while openly admitting they had not made a decision to follow Christ.
As years past this man helped build staging and sets for events at PAG, he volunteered to help clean and work on the property. One day his wife told me, "Pastor Ben, my husband said that if you ever left PAG, he'd stop coming to church." Well, I'm not a fan of that kind of thinking. I don't think that I'm an especially good leader, and I don't want people following me anyway, unless they follow me as I follow Christ.
I will admit that that statement weighed on me when I was making the decision to announce I was leaving. I didn't really think that this family would come with me to help start the church, but I really hoped that he would still attend church and one day give his life to Christ.
When I made the announcement about SRC he and his family decided to come and help. It was odd to me to have an admitted (he was very clear at our meetings over the summer) non-follower of Jesus on our team. But he stood firmly, that there were still questions he needed answered.
One of the things we believe at SRC is that people can belong before they believe. And today he made the transition from belonging to believing. We're glad to welcome Joe to discipleship. Stories like Joe's are what SRC is all about, "Making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey God's word." The pool is gonna fill up on Baptism day.
It was a BIG DAY.
--Ben
2 comments:
Sure was a BIG DAY. Was that the Lord working or what. We are al so happy & proud that Joe finally made his decision to follow the Lord. We are definatly doing what we set out to do. Bring on the pool.
as the angels rejoice, we rejoice with you also!
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