From the Vineyard Newsletter on 12/9: The Great Commission-Part 4

For the last several weeks I have been focused on our role in fulfilling the Great Commission. The first week we talked about the importance of having a salvation prayer list for those whom we wish to see come to salvation in Jesus Christ. I hope you shared your with us, so we can pray along with you. Week 2 I shared about praying for God to stir our own hearts with a passion for the lost. Then last week I shared about the power of inviting people to church. 

One of the ways that we as a church partner with you is to create events that you can invite your unchurched friends to. These special events are created to make it easy for you to bring people and to have fun. Our two biggest events are the Brooksville BBQ in October that brings close to 2,000 people to our doorstep and the Candlelight Services on Christmas Eve which bring in close to 600 people. Both of these events are as safe, fun, family-friendly events that anyone can invite a friend to. We also participate in Christmas Parade every year not only with a parade float and walkers, but also as the biggest parking venue for the event. Giving us a chance to hand out bottled water and invites to Christmas Eve. In that single event we get our name out to over 200 carloads of people and some 10,000 onlookers. It is a great way to reach out to our community.   

The greatest challenge in these events is getting church members to help us put on these events. The lost come in groves. The unchurched love these events! On Christmas Eve the unchurched outnumber our members. What we need is for church members to come and be a smiling face. For church members to come and help us with hosting, or with the worship, or ushering, or making sandwiches, or handing out bottles of water. That requires a little sacrifice on our part. If you hand out water, you may not get the best seat at the parade. If you invite people to come to Christmas Eve, it will probably mean your celebration will start after you make your guests feel welcome, and you have said a long heartfelt goodbye. 

Becoming evangelistic, and fulfilling the Great Commission, are by nature selfless, sacrificial, and inconvenient. It won’t happen without great passion for Jesus and his mission to seek and save the lost. So we must pray, and we must step out in faith. I hope you will show up on Christmas Eve, with a lots of unsaved and/or de-churched friends, family, and neighbors. Services are 4:00 and 6:00 pm.  

 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 11/25: The Great Commission- Part 2

Last week I wrote to you briefly about the Great Commission and the importance of evangelism. If you did not read that letter please go back and do that? This week I want to continue those thoughts.

As I said, the best way to begin evangelism is with a prayer list. To make a list of those persons in your life that you want to see come to Christ, and begin praying for their salvation on a regular basis. As well, I invited you to send me your prayer list, and with your permission, I would even share it with our prayer team. 

This week, I want to suggest some additional simple steps to evangelism. Like the last step, this one is also rooted in prayer. It is praying for God to stir your heart with zeal for the lost. Our lives are often so full of other things, that there is not much room in our hearts (or lives) for the lost. So before we will ever make room in our schedule we need a change of heart. The place to begin then is praying, “God I know that your heart is for the lost. Please give me passion for the lost. Please give me the zeal to reach my friends, neighbors, and family. Please give me a heart for my community.” That prayer will do more to you than you can imagine. You cannot pray that prayer and it not affect your love for the lost.

If you will start with these two things: (1) prayer for people on your list, and (2) prayer for your own passion/zeal to be ignited for the lost. I promise you that you will see people get saved. 

One last thing, will you, as an act of evangelism, please invite your neighbors to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services on December 24? We have two service times, 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

  

Grace and peace,

Hal 

From the Vineyard newsletter on 11/18: The Great Commission-Part 1.

Our church mission statement is taken from the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (the stuff every believer is supposed to do). The Great Commandment is to love God above all else, with all of our strength/personhood. Then the Great Commandment is to go unto every people and teach them what Jesus taught the Apostles, which has been taught to every successive generation of Christians (also known as evangelism and discipleship). So literally half of our life mission as God’s people is to share the good news of Jesus with those who don’t know him and teach them to likewise obey his commission. However, telling people that does not usually make them want to run out and tell their neighbors about Jesus. Most Christians seize up with fear, others balk at the idea, explaining that is why we pay tithes so the pastor can do it, and if the pastor keeps talking about it, they eventually move on to another church that will do all of that for them (religious consumerism). 

So rather than telling people what they are supposed to do and brow-beat them into submission (or leaving), let me invite you to begin with prayer. Prayer is powerful! Of all the people that I have led to Christ over the years, not one of them came without prayer. Either mine or a faithful person who prayed for them other than me. Many a person came to Christ because of the prayers of a faithful mother, father, or grandparent. Over the years I have developed a list that I keep in my journal of people that I am praying for their salvation. I often add to the list, but I also get to cross-off those who have already come to Jesus. Some people have been on that list for a long time, but most are on the list for only months before coming to Jesus. On a rare occasion, I have the painful job of crossing-off my list someone who has passed away whom I don’t think ever received Jesus. In those moments my prayers become more fervent, not wanting any more on my list to perish without the gospel.  

So this week, I want to invite you, this is the time of year we begin making our lists of what we want most. Would you consider making a list of people whose salvation you are praying for? Then do me a favor? Send me your list! If you like, let me know and I will share that list with our prayer team so we can pray for them too.  

Grace and peace,
Hal

I Felt Like an Angel From Heaven in Their Midst

 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. -Hebrews 13.2

Did you know that the average person makes up there mind about a church between their car door and their seat? Before a song is sung, before the pastor speaks, most people have already made up their mind about a church. Those first impressions mean more than we imagine.

Over the years as a church planter I have visited more churches than most people, doing research. As a pastor I know the drill of finding my way around a church and I am usually looking to be “off-the-radar” as I try to learn from that church without getting any special attention because of being a pastor. A few churches I have visited were down-right unfriendly, but most were reasonably polite. Still even the friendliest of them were a little awkward at first, simply because I didn't know where things were, or what the expectations were.  That is why a hospitality team is honestly the most important ministry in the body. Those greeters, ushers, and security people make the church seem not only more welcoming but they determine if a person will stick around.

Recently I visited a church that broke the mold on hospitality. I have never been so impressed by any church’s first impression in all my life. To top it off, I was only at a satellite campus, not even the main campus of this fast growing church. What was so radical? Well, they had a huge team of hospitality people. Out of the 300 people at least 50 of them were involved in hospitality, but I was never mobbed. Instead every guest was greeted individually. A host walked every guest around so they could find everything they needed, including their seat, and they gave us s small packet of information, including a CD. Once we were settled they invited us to come back to the welcome center for a gift. A real gift! When I returned to the Welcome Center they answered all of my questions, and helped me fill out a connect card, had I lived in the area they would have also helped me sign-up for anything I wanted to get involved in. Then the host did one more thing after I left, while my name was still fresh on her mind, Sarah wrote me a brief postcard thanking me for my visit, and invited me back. That postcard went out the same day, and got to my house 800 miles away in two days. If I am ever back there I already know Sarah by name, because she greeted me and escorted me around the church so I didn’t feel lost, and her note reminded me of her name too. Moreover, Sarah answered all of my questions because she had been to a briefing that morning to give her all the info she needed and to remind her of that church's core values.

I was stunned by what I experienced. I thought I knew what good hospitality was all about, but then I got taken to school. I quickly figures out I have a lot to learn.  My teenage children talked about their experience for nearly two hours after church. (It takes a lot to impress a couple of PK’s.) After I visited the church I posted about my experience and several people asked to explain what was so powerful about my experience. To be honest, reading this post does not even begin to do it justice. I must also add that I sensed the presence of God, and I heard a Southern Baptist talk about healing and the power of the Spirit in a very meaningful way. Yet, I also have to say that the church wasn’t perfect. The music was so loud one of my kids said she wished she had taken the earplugs. Even my son who loves it loud said, it would be hard to do that every week. The music and the preaching were good but not awesome. Yet this church has grown from handful of people in 2006 to over 20,000 people in 2015. So they have done a great job in making people want to stay. All I know, is that I am planning on going back to visit that church and learn more.

My take-away? Well, People ask me all the time, "How can I serve? What can I do to make a difference?" My first response has always been hospitality because I can't think of any more impacting role than to be part of the hospitality team. Too often people look at that role as beneath them, they take that role for granted, but the truth is, that's why most churches don't make much of an impact. I would love for everyone to feel what I felt when I visited that church. They made me feel like I was an angel from heaven that had landed in their midst.  So I am going to spend the next several weeks with my team learning and growing in the ministry of hospitality.