A Walk Across the Street

I met her this past Sunday.  It was she and her Children's first-time to worship with us.  I introduced myself.  She said, "I embarrassed to share this..." I encouraged her that it was OK to share. 

She said, "I live across the street and I never realized this was a church." 

I thought to myself, "We, not you, ought to be embarrassed about that." :-)

I asked, "How did you come to realize we were here?" 

She answered, "This past October some people knocked on my door and introduced themselves.  They invited us to Trunk or Treat. Ever since then I have been thinking about coming." 

I asked her if she filled out a "Connection Card."  She had.  I found her card and guess what?!  On Sunday she committed her life to Christ!!!!!!  Praise God!!!!  OK...I am getting excited...anybody else!!!!

(Thank you to our ushers, counters and welcome table hosts, who enabled us to change the offering to the end of the worship service so people like this first-time guest have a chance to respond to Christ at the end of each service).

But none of this would have happened, had our 20-30 somethings not walked across the street, knocked on a door and introduced themselves. 

Satan tries to make the Good News complicated, doesn't he?  He tries to get us all wrapped up in memorizing the 4 spiritual laws and caught up in trying to find the right new program or getting us to fight over why we don't do some old program or telling us people will be offended and on and on the lies go.  But the good news about the Good News of Christ is that it is not complicated.  It is as simple as walking across the street.

O, how the 20-30 somethings of our church family must have made Jesus smile because that is exactly what Jesus did during his earthly ministry.  In Mark 5:1 it says, "They [Jesus and his disciples] went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes."  The lake spoken of is the Sea of Galilee.  On one side was Jewish--good, holy, saved, sanctified...and on the other side was...well...the opposite...the Gentile side.  Jesus left the "church" side of the street and went over to the "sinner" side of the street.  And there he met a man possessed by a legion of demons. It did not take long until the man possessed was set free and he began to tell everyone in the Decapolis (the ten major cities) of the freedom he found in and through Christ.

What prompted this change for not only one man but for ten cities?  A simple trip across the lake.

Church family, this is what a REFOCUS is about...it is about looking at everything we are and do as a church and asking, how is this helping or hindering us walking across the street?  It is about recognizing that people who live across the street do not know we are here.  It is about asking whether or not we recognize the people across the street are there?  It is about risking everything to not go unnoticed for the sake of Christ and letting our neighbors know that they do not go unnoticed by Jesus or us. 

Today, all of us can celebrate with all the angels in heaven that this one has received Christ!  And we can thank our young brothers and sisters for reminding us to take Jesus across the street! 

So, what street is Jesus asking you and me to cross for his sake this week?