First, it isn't about soul winning like it was in the beginning for those earlier years continue to bear their own profitable fruit. Our people have grown up/are still growing up. Yes, we did learn to get out there on Monday Night for the Masses and teach those cottage classes, etc. I became not only highly motivated but hyper-encouraged at the possibilities among us.
Charleses Hodge and Coil, along with Mid McKnight, Richard Rogers and others, thrilled us to the core with dreams of getting out there and bringing those people in! And....for many of us the fire has never left.
This leads me to the second point; we aren't doing soul winning like we did in the beginning. God has expanded our dreams from a specific night to do soul-winning to 24/7. We were so graced by our earlier stalwarts of the workshop that their fires continue to fan our flames. Our people have expanded their vision for soul winning to include better children's ministries, deeper Bible studies, and more intense church connections which have no "soul-winning" label....but are highly and intensely involved in just that.
Have you not noticed that the expansion of our worship styles have favorably impacted our winning of our neighbors? God resides in praise and these great leaders are effectively taking us to His throne. And have you not been blessed by the Albert Lemmons and the Keith Roberts prayer instructions among us? Developing better prayer communication....will increase hearts for soul winning.
Did any of you read the Christian Chronicle center-fold? Our neighboring and delightful Park Plaza congregation appropriately blames its growth and success....on getting their members to line up for mission trips. At Memorial Drive we've gone from no Missions Day when I first got here to our annual Missions Day where we supported mission works around the world to---now---raising funds for missions which includes about 20% of our own flock heading to mission targets ourselves.
For any who would like to claim the Tulsa Workshop isn't about soul winning "like it used to be" they are right....and they are wrong.
The truth is....
- I don't schedule anything on the Tulsa Workshop program that is not about seeing the world through the eyes of Jesus.
- Our people are continuing to mature in the Spirit of Jesus year by year as we yearn to influence the world for Him.
- And....I still miss Charles and Charles and Mid and Richard and the others....for their good influence continues to impact the new guys on the block!
1 comment:
Lingo can suck the life and meaning out of almost anything. Christian lingo can be some of the worst.
The religious leaders charged Jesus with claiming to be God. Jesus made it clear, however, that His will was to do the will of the Father. Nobody would directly come to Jesus first; only those who were drawn by the Father would be sent to the Son. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
So, people don't start with Jesus. It starts with a person being drawn by God:
ἕλκω
1) to draw, drag off
2) metaph., to draw by inward power, lead, impel
The Church of Christ serves that same role today. God sends people to the Church when they are drawn by God.
Jesus said that God's will for Himself was to lose none of those whom God sends to Him. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, ..."
I think that's the way that the Church must behave, too: those who are drawn by God are sent to the Church, and we must lose none of them. That's how we win. It starts with God. The best we can do is to not lose souls.
One might ask, "How will they know that there is a God without us?" Paul tells us that is obvious: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
We are to gather, disciple, Baptize, and teach obedience. The soul is 'won' if we simply fail to lose any. (That word 'win' is translated as 'gain' as in the KJV.)
Let's keep a keen eye out for the ones who seem to be drawn. God's always sending them to us.
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