Out of our hands

Lost people matter to God and they should matter to us. This past Sunday was one of those days you wish you could freeze frame. A day when God moves in people's hearts and they surrender their lives to him in salvation. This past Sunday we saw many people do just that.

I encouraged my people to invite their unchurched friends to Grace and let them know that we would give a salvation message. So we prepared as if God was going to move and people would respond. I spent a long time in my office with both of my worship pastors on the Goshen Campus trying to create the best environment for this moment to happen. We talked through songs, mood (which I think is the most critical), technology, prayer, words, moments, what ifs, the satellite venues, public response time of individuals, you get the picture. We planned as if God would move and people would get saved. We knew we could only do so much, the rest was out of our hands. But we were prepared for God to work!

We put our faith on the line. As the morning approached their was a sense of anticipation.Would anyone respond? How many would respond? Would people in the satellite venues surrender their hearts to a satellite feed? You see hours of planning went into that single moment at the end, and we wanted to do everything we could with excellence to create the best environment for God to work. It was out of our hands at this point.

I wonder how many of us out there plan services that way? Do we really believe that Lost People matter so much that even if we look stupid at the end of a service we will follow through with the plan? What if we have no one standing for a song that is made to acknowledge new believers? Does God see our faith for others and in Him? Does it make a difference that we plan as if he is going to come through in the moment?

Out of our hands is a scary place to live, because we like to control the outcome. But after many years of trying to keep it in my hands, his hands are the best place to be. Oh yeah the above photo is a picture from our Goshen LINK VENUE that is a live satellite feed. God moved and people stood proudly in front of a screen and a bunch of TV monitors and surrendered their hearts to Jesus. May we always be an out of our hands kind of church!