December 15th, 2009 | 
Author: We had a great time together at the Philadelphia NMNP this past weekend. The diversity of the group that attended made our time richer. We had a church plant team from Queens, NY, and a young church from central New Jersey, and a another church from York, PA amongst others that all came from different contexts. We were an engaging and interactive group. We all learned and gleaned from each others journeys and experiences in ministry and life with Christ.
Over lunch we all went to a local cafeteria style food spot and got to know each other better. It was a blast!
It’s so fun and enriching to talk to people from all over the place that have the same mission of drawing teens into authentic community to embrace Jesus and His way of life, and yet all coming from different flavors and styles churches.
Our conversations around learning the story of God had depth and breadth of insight. The realization of God including us in His story as it unfolds is humbling, and exciting! Our discussions on Christ forming in us and then His Spirit working through us were awesome and encouraging.
I think everyone walked away from today feeling more of a sense of calling & mission, and with a renewed passion for the path ahead.
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Today, I was flipping on the television as I was into my morning routine. There was nothing specific that I wanted to find on the TV except maybe to check the crazy weather that we are having up in Canada.
I was drawn to the Today Show on NBC because of a tag line that they had for the next segment. I left it on the channel and watched as they advertised and interview the author, Thomas Williams of a book called, “Making spiritual progress” – Becoming the Christian that you want to be.
Some of the stats that they were sharing were that 92% of Americans believe in God. 18% of Americans will never attend church in their lifetime. There are over 2.1 billion Christians worldwide. Those statistics made me wonder how many of those people are actually denying their cross on a daily basis to serve God? Maybe even the question of what are these 2.1 billion so called Christians doing to be agents of restoration in the world that they are living in.
It was the next statement made by the author that was the thing that caught my attention. He simply said that if Christians understood the responsibility that we have to love God and love others our lives and the world would be a much better place. I do agree with him and am interested to read what else he says in the book that he has authored.
Can you imagine if we as Christ followers actually did commit to “loving God” – surrender, abide and reflect and “loving others’ – revealing truth, redeeming community and imparting life?
My guess is that the world would look very different than it does today. How many Christians are actually committed and living a life that is marked by their love for God and others? This would be a statistic that I would love to see.