I must confess that I went gangsta in O'Fallon this morning. I spent over an hour performing "drive-by's" all over the city. I simply drove by and prayed....I prayed for our Skyline family to invite their friends and neighbors to church this weekend. I prayed that our volunteers be filled with excellence as they serve. I even made an effort to perform a "drive-by" on O'Fallon Township High School. Community after community, street after street I drove by and prayed. I prayed for the people represented in every home. I prayed for their families. I prayed for their struggles. I prayed for their hearts to soften so that they might come and hear the Good News of Christ this weekend. I prayed specifically for them to be at Skyline with the exception that they might just go somewhere else to hear about the risen Christ.
The Bible does say to enter into your own closet. It says to not let your left hand know what the right is doing. Typically that is my practice, but as I prayed for our people and our community I felt God give me a peace in sharing this with you. Why? Because I feel that God may lead some of you to read this and be encouraged to do the same.
This week, I want to challenge our Skyline family to get a little gangsta. I want to challenge you to do so in three ways.
1.) Do drive-by's! Even if it just your community. Take 2 extra minutes out of your day and drive through your neighborhood and pray. Take a slight detour and do a drive-by at OTHS. I meet regularly with my friend Tim Clark. Tim is always good to remind me (even though I always know this, I/we still need reminding) that EVERYTHING we do has to be bathed in prayer. Everything from the ministries we serve in to the people we are called to reach, we must bathe all things in prayer. If not for prayer, we lack any power to do God's will in our community. Pray for the people of the community, pray for the service each and every weekend, and pray for your pastor as I (or whoever that may be) attempt through foolishness to bring the Word of God in a way that is understandable and life transformational.
2. Recruit! Spread the word! Do this through simple invitations. Drop an email. Send out a Facebook post. Share the Easter invitation video linked on my youtube channel. Go to the Skyline Group page and share the invitation that is on their in the events section....Some people are just waiting for you to say the word and they are in.
Also, we still have a few door hangers that need to be distributed. I would love to see everyone of them given out. Who knows, one of those door hangers could make the difference in someone's eternity. If you would like to grab a few, contact Denyse Anderson at mark_denyse@charter.net .
3. Last but certainly not least...Initiate them with love! Even if there were no marketing whatsoever, there would be more new people at church that a typical Sunday because it's Easter and you're supposed to be at church on Easter. I want to encourage the people of Skyline to make certain to focus on new people (not just this weekend, but every weekend). Spend most of your time welcoming them, not even with just a hand shake...engage them in conversation. Make certain that there is no question that you are glad they came. In my opinion, if any person enters the door of the church and leaves feeling unwelcomed or unloved....we have FAILED!!! Love is the one thing that God gives us that holds the power to crack even the stoniest heart. So let's initiate them with LOVE!
I can't tell you how PUMPED I am to see what God does at Skyline this weekend and it will happen in what God does through YOU! Never forget that YOU are the tool that He chooses to use in order that people may experience the true heart of His Son. Let's bring home a win for the BIG GUY this weekend.
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