Alan and I went to the Catalyst conference with the TNC staff and lead team this past week. It was great to get away with the gang again and recharge our batteries. The speakers were very engaging...as well as the music! One of my favorite musical moments was Steve Fee with a gospel choir backing him up, singing the "I got soul but I'm not a soldier" line of the Killers' All These Things That I've Done.
One of the speakers was Rick McKinley, a pastor and also Donald Miller's friend (author of Blue Like Jazz). He had some great one-liners. One of them was: "You don't have to clean up your act to HEAR about Jesus." This has to be one of the main reasons people don't want to go to church...they don't feel worthy because of their sins.
So I got home from my trip and there was a daily devotional in my inbox, which totally applied to McKinley's message. Here is a portion of it:
While you do not need to change your lifestyle before you come to Christ,
once you do come to Christ, your lifestyle should show tangible changes.
If it does not, then one could doubt whether Christ has really come into your
life. The way you live should reflect what you believe. As John the Baptist
said, "Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from sins and
turned to God"[Luke 3:8]NLT
There is no pre-requisite, no resume, no standard, no criteria you have to meet to come to know Jesus. Tell this to your "fish" when you invite them to church. They don't have to be GOOD enough, just BAD enough. Then they will experience a clean-up like never before!
One of the speakers was Rick McKinley, a pastor and also Donald Miller's friend (author of Blue Like Jazz). He had some great one-liners. One of them was: "You don't have to clean up your act to HEAR about Jesus." This has to be one of the main reasons people don't want to go to church...they don't feel worthy because of their sins.
So I got home from my trip and there was a daily devotional in my inbox, which totally applied to McKinley's message. Here is a portion of it:
While you do not need to change your lifestyle before you come to Christ,
once you do come to Christ, your lifestyle should show tangible changes.
If it does not, then one could doubt whether Christ has really come into your
life. The way you live should reflect what you believe. As John the Baptist
said, "Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from sins and
turned to God"[Luke 3:8]NLT
There is no pre-requisite, no resume, no standard, no criteria you have to meet to come to know Jesus. Tell this to your "fish" when you invite them to church. They don't have to be GOOD enough, just BAD enough. Then they will experience a clean-up like never before!
No comments:
Post a Comment