The weekend became a sacred event as the Lord powerfully assured the interceding young people that their agonizing prayers for their friends’ salvation would be answered. Within months of that retreat, the Jesus Movement was sweeping thousands into the kingdom. These young people experienced a burden for the lost—a seldom-heard term today—that propelled them into urgent, compassionate evangelism.
My three-year old grandson, Boyce, has no problem dreaming big dreams. When you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, Boyce shouts with every ounce of enthusiasm in his perpetually jumping body, “I want to build bridges … fly an airplane … and go to the North Pole and play with reindeer because they will like me.”
Churches are transforming their communities by caring for people in neighborhoods overwhelmed by crime, illiteracy and poverty. Taking the love of Christ into these situations, congregations fulfill their high calling, knowing that the government cannot fully answer these needs.
Our job is to introduce kids to the One who cleans up messes–Jesus.
This open letter to worship pastors/leaders is on behalf of the 350,000 preachers out there who serve alongside you every weekend. In case you didn’t read last week’s letter to Discipleship/Ed pastors, these are staff letters of appreciation, not rebuke:
Sacred Assemblies were occasions for God’s people collectively to worship Him, to repent of personal and corporate sin, to remember His special blessings on them, and to anticipate future blessings. They were times to renew the covenant relationship with the Lord and return to Him in faithful love and obedience. The prescription for sacred assemblies is found in Leviticus 23 and were the appointed festivals.
