demonstrating the Gospel is not enough.
Good preaching, good doctrine,
being good people, it’s not enough.
We have decided that having a good church
club is not enough.
Good fellowship, it’s not enough.
Just being a member of that club,
it’s not enough.
We have decided that having
good bible studies is good, but not good enough.
That just making it to Heaven is not
our goal; and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God
is meaningless!
We have decided that having
good programs is not enough.
That change without transformation
is intolerable, and staying the same is not an option!
We have decided that gifting
without character is futile.
We have decided that singing songs
without worshiping is hollow, and having meetings without God showing up is
pointless.
We have decided that having faith
without works is not enough, and having works without love is not acceptable.
Our function comes out of our
relationship first with the Father and second with each other.
We have decided that reading about
the book of acts without living the book of acts is unthinkable.
We have decided that confident faith
is good, bold faith is better.
We have decided that hearing about
the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly.
That believing in His presence
without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy; that believing
in healing without seeing people healed is absurd; and that believing in
deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.
We’ve decided to be Holy Spirit
filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered.
Anything less doesn’t work for
us.
We have decided to be the ones
telling the stories of God’s power, not the ones hearing about
them.
We have decided that living saved,
but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ
died for.
We have decided that we are a
battleship not a cruise ship, an army not an audience; Special Forces not
spectators, missionaries not club members.
We have decided to value both
pioneers and settlers; pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build
on those territories.
But we are not squatters;
people who take up space others have fought for without improving
it.
We have decided to be infectious
instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of
benign.
We have decided to be radical lovers
and outrageous givers.
We have decided that we are a
mission station not a museum.
Therefore, we honor the past but we don’t live in it.
We live in the present with our eyes
on the future.
We see past events, successes, and
failures as stepping stones not stop signs.
We pursue learning in order to be
transformed not learning in order to know.
We are people of engagement not
observation.
We focus on what could be not on
what is or what has been.
We are not limited to the four walls
of this building; our influence is not restricted by location.
Not even the Nations are out of
bounds.
We are more concerned about how many
we send out in the world then how many we convince to come into the
building.
This building is meant to be filled,
and it will be, but it will not be the measure of who we are or the measure of
our effectiveness.
We raise up world changers not tour
guides.
We train commandos not
committees.
We are a people of our destiny
not our history.
We have decided it’s better to fail
while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us, than succeed in
settling for less.
We have decided that nothing short
of His kingdom come and His will be done in our world as it is in heaven will
satisfy.
We have decided that we will not be
satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out, “those who turned the
world upside down have come here too.”
These are
some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we live our
lives.
These
decisions are not destinations but rather journeys.
Journeys
along an ancient path, we have not found some new way.
But rather
rediscovered a path as old as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The same
path followed by Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, Paul, John, and Peter.
The path
followed by the first century church, a church that revolutionized the culture
of the first century and beyond.
It’s a
path that will impact the world we live in today.
It’s a
path of bold faith, believing that what God says is really true and acting on
it.
It’s a path of outrageous
generosity, giving our life away in order to demonstrate His kingdom.
It’s a path of radical love,
loving God with everything in us and loving our neighbor as
ourselves.
It’s a path of liberty, freedom, and
healing.
On this path you will find
significance, purpose, and destiny.
It’s a path less traveled
however.
It’s not a path only available
to a select few, but to whosoever will come.
It’s for people of every
nation tribe and tongue, for those in any occupation or vocation.
No matter where you are in your life journey
there’s room on this path for you.
