| Get on the Ball! |
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Last night I had the privilege to hear a sermon from the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Frank Page. I thought I'd share a few bites in this space. He started out with an illustrative joke. It went something similar to this:
A man, who was not too good at the game of golf, thought he'd try it one more time. So he put his ball on a tee, practiced his swing a few times and then looked serious as he stepped up to the ball. He swung a powerful stroke only to miss the ball and hit a nearby ant hill. Thousands of ants went screaming into the air. He tried again and the same thing happened: hundreds of ants went sailing across the grass. It got to the point that there were just two ants left. One worried ant turned to the other and said "What shall we do?" The second ant answered, "If we don't want to die, we'd better get on the ball!"
Of course this joke opened the way for him to talk about the necessity for the church to "get on the ball", otherwise, he said, "it will die". He referred to newly acquired statistics that showed that the Church in America is in decline. It is not keeping up with the population growth or with the new generation of seekers.
Dr. Page's message only confirms what we are trying to achieve at our church in eastern North Carolina. The Bridge is a new and different way that our church can adapt and grow by reaching the unchurched. The Bridge is a highly successful multi-site concept that is sweeping the nation. It will present the gospel message without compromise and it will reach people in our area that have not been previously reachable.
The implementation of The Bridge is still in it's infancy, in fact, we have not even given it church approval. But here's the deal: "If we don't want to die, we'd better get on the ball!" |
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