Emily and I had the opportunity and blessing to attend The Thrive 2010 Conference at Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California. It’s one of the fastest growing churches on the West Coast and where Lincoln Brewster leads worship. Those are great things, but the best part is the ministry they have going there. They started this conference 6 years ago in order to strengthen “The Church” at large. To encourage anyone who serves in the church from the greeters to the pastor and to send out more Christians into the world who are THRIVING. Not surviving…but thriving! It was amazing, let’s just say I have a dozen Word docs awaiting my review full of ideas and notes. I just want to share one thing that really stuck with me.
It was awesome worshiping and talking with people of so many different denominations. I love being challenged, stretched, encouraged, prayed for and growing with CHRISTIANS. Over 3,000 people from 23 states and 7 countries came here to stand upon two things: 1- A belief in Scripture as God breathed which tells us about the love of Jesus and our Salvation through Him and 2- A desire to share that love and serve the people around us and the world.
Of course, we have our disagreements here and there about method, practice, terminology, order and maybe a few other things as well. Some of these things can be big hangups for people in ministry. When I started to hear stories about how different churches are reaching people and they are being led to Christ in love, well, my focus started to be more on Jesus in their hearts and less on how I thought Jesus should get into their hearts.
One of the presenters said, “So many times people in the church get caught up with the WHAT, and they forgot to ask WHY?” I can hear someone in a church near any of us see a young man come in on Sunday morning with tattoos all over, piercings, baggy pants and the whole bit. Can you hear the whispers, “Why is he here? Watch your purse.” Those people are focused on the WHAT. If you got to the WHY and found out that he had come to know Jesus after many years in a gang and uses those experiences to reach others lost in that world, well, then you’d have a whole new perspective.
It just made me think about so many things we judge in the church based on the WHAT- style of music, where we sit, what we wear, etc, etc. Let’s get to the WHY- and the why should always be based on Jesus. Our whole view of church will change if all we do, say, and choose is based on our love for Jesus and those HE loves.
I pray that God gives me His eyes to see, His mouth to ask good questions and share His love, and His hands to serve those who are in need.