Monday morning reflections

I love every chance I get to worship with my fellow Ridgies at RCC. I have said for months that I believe God is up to something in our Ridgeview family. I believe with all my heart it is because of people who have partnered with Lisa and me in praying for a revival. So, after an amazing day yesterday, here are a few thoughts on a GREAT DAY at Ridgeview…

• I am pumped about your response to God's message yesterday. It's been far too long since we had someone step across the line of faith and decide to follow Christ. Join me in praying that this Sunday stops that streak!
• Evangelism is NOT an option for the church…it is a command! (See Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15,Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Romans 10:17 and II Corinthians 5:17-21 for starters!) We have said for years that your willingness to love your friends to Christ is Plan A with God...and there is no Plan B.
• People who truly know Christ have a desire for others to meet Christ! You can't be a follower of Christ and not care about the lost.
• There is not ONE example in the New Testament of a church that gathered to talk about themselves or to impress each other and or to see ZERO life change!
• When a church begins to do church for the “already convinced”–evangelism always takes a back seat!
• The world will NOT BE CHANGED by what we believe but rather how we behave!!! (got those last two thoughts from an amazing pastor in South Carolina).
• I am NOT praying for merely an amazing church service next week…but rather an AWAKENING that forever changes Williamson County! Our problem is not that God can't bring it...it's that we doubt it can't happen in us.
• According to a 2008 survey, 80% of the 172,000 plus people in Williamson County do not attend church anywhere on a regular basis. They are lost! That’s a TOTAL of 137,600 people who are NOT in church, who NEED Jesus!
• Take a look at that line above again…EVERY SINGLE one of those people have a SOUL…THEY MATTER TO GOD and therefore SHOULD matter to us!
• Our goal should be to reduce that number to zero...that's right, not one lost person should go without our touch.
• JESUS changes people…we do not! It is not our job to change someone…but rather to get them to a place where they can meet Jesus and HE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!
• Ridgies…let’s join together and pray like crazy and work as hard as we can to do our part to get people to church this Sunday. Then, let’s trust HIM to do His part.

Let me just close by giving you some examples of stuff that has happened since yesterday morning that prove you have this passion and you're getting on board with God's desire for the lost. A young teen has invited his friends to be a part of our camp this summer and asked his church staff to pray with him that they will be open. A young man texted me yesterday to give me the name of a customer that he is praying for and witnessing to. He wants me to join him in praying. Last night, my LIFE group was asked to mention one name in prayer that they wanted to talk to this week about worshipping with us on Sunday. The problem wasn't getting them to say a name; it was limiting them to just one (some of them cheated a little. I like that a lot!). Finally, a young lady in our church who has been praying for a lost family member for a long time called last night to say that this person is coming to Ridgeview on Sunday with their spouse. God is up to something, people. Pray and pray hard. God is good!!