Off to a good start...

We are off to a good beginning in 2009.  I am excited about the vision and direction in which the Lord is leading us to go.  With our theme: Each One, Reach One... our desire is to reach out to those who are outside of the church and outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we who are on the inside will heed the call that our Lord has given us and strive to "make disciples" of all the nations.  In Jesus' day, disciples were those who followed their teacher with the goal of knowing what the teachers knows, but also becoming like the teacher in character and attitude.  It wasn't just about knowledge, but likeness.

When it comes to "all nations", the Greek term is "ethnos".  This is where we get our english term: ethnic.  Bottom line, people who are different from ourselves.  That may mean someone of different color, language, social status, religious beliefs, and so forth.  Even for me, who loves the Iowa Hawkeyes... I need to reach out to ISU fans as well.  (An attempt at humor)

Let all of us who are on the inside, begin to remember, according to the Scripture, that we once lived outside ourselves.  Someone, somewhere, at sometime took the time to share with us their story and how Jesus played an integral role.  May we not hold onto the knowledge we have, but be willing to spread it around with those we come into contact with.  May we be willing to surrender our wills, opinions, schedules and comfortability in order that we may see the opportunities that God is laying before us to share the goodness of who He is.

Remember, I'm praying for you, we're all in this together.