Well I just got home from our Youth Vision meeting tonight and I am amped up. God is moving so powerfully in our church I can’t even begin to fathom it all. We had practically half the sanctuary full of people who wanted to know about and be a part of what God wants to do with our teenagers and that’s just wild.

I can’t tell you how cool it is to be serving and loving in a church that is full of people who are excited to see and be a part of what God is doing. When that happens, watch out. God is looking for surrendered people who are hungry to see Him move and when He puts people like that together mighty things happen.

People get saved.
Lives are restored.
Kids are set on the path of righteousness.
Parents see redeemed kids and then find faith for themselves.
Broken families find wholeness.

In short, people who are hopelessly seperated from God begin to find living hope in Christ. And that’s what we are all about.

Get ready to see a great work of God.

It’s coming…

As we are reading through “Visioneering” a lot of things are becoming clearer to me. I have to admit, when I began pastoring in Lakeside, I expected much more results much faster than has actually occurred. But the strange thing is, even though I expected us to be further along, at every stage of the game I have been convinced that we were exactly where we should have been–at that time.

I know that sounds contradictory. On the one hand I expected more salvations, more baptisms, more changed lives, more people stepping up into positions of leadership. On the other hand, I have not once thought we have missed an opportunity that we just had to take. It may seem impossible to hold both positions simultaneously, but it’s not. The glue that holds it all together is the conviction that God is the one in control of the situation, not me. When we adopt that viewpoint, it changes how we approach everything in the church.

If we believe that God is in control, then we will also believe that God will move the peices around to make His work successful. That frees us to wait on God until He decides the circumstances are right before we jump into the fray. On the other hand, if we believe God inspires, directs, and then leaves the rest up to us, we are at risk of getting ahead of God. The temptation will be to take control from God, and take matters into our own hands.

Here’s the rub. Both methods accomplish the goal, but only one method accomplishes the goal in the right way. There is always a tension between “get it done” and “get it done right.” When we wait on God, what we are doing is saying, “I don’t just want it done. I want it done right.”

Over the last two years there has not been a group oriented to our teen-agers. We didn’t have such a group because there was not a person in the church who felt God’s call or who had been equipped for that kind of a task. Now don’t get me wrong, my conviction is that any church without an effective youth program is doomed to a slow and painful death.

During that time, we have had several families visit our church for one or two weekends and then never return because there wasn’t a place for their teen-aged children. That was hard. No one wants to see people visit our church and then never come back. No one wants that less than me. We could have started a youth group, but it wouldn’t have been effective. It would have been run by someone who wasn’t called to that sort of service. That would have led to burnout, and burnout would have lead to animosity and animosity would have lead to arguments, and eventually both families (the kid’s and the worker’s) would have left the church.

Instead we chose to believe that God works out what He puts in us. When we do that, He always comes through.

Right now the church is reading together “Visioneering” by Andy Stanley. This struck me (page 17):

“Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. Anyone who is emotionally involved – frustrated, brokenhearted, maybe even angry – about the way things are in light of the way they believe things could be, is a candidate for a vision. Visions form in the hearts of those who are dissatisfied with the status quo.”

Are you satisfied with the way things are? I’m not. Yes, we have a great church. Yes, we are growing, both in depth and numbers. Yes, There is a great feeling of progress and momentum building.

But that is what is. Here is what could be:

• Husbands and wives forgiving the unforgivable and restoring relationships that only God can do
• Fathers, mothers, and teenagers surrendering control of their lives to Christ instead of to drugs and alcohal
• Households rejecting the “American way” of over-spending and instead living debt free
• Students coming to Christ in such numbers that El Capitan, Terra Del Sol, and Lakeside Middle School become top schools in our county and the students are known for their integrity, honesty and devotion to God
• People coming to Christ in such numbers that the entire county cannot ignore the fact that God is at work in Lakeside
• Men and women, just like you, sensing and responding to a God given call to serve, teach, and lead others into a continually growing relationship with Jesus Christ both here in Lakeside and abroad
• The Lakeside Rodeo grounds packed to the edges on Easter Sunday with Lakeside residents and their friends and families all discovering and experiencing God’s grace in their lives
• Men and women by the thousands being freed from their guilt and shame so they can be released to discover all they can be in Christ
• Thousands of men and women and teens and children intentionally growing in their faith, turning over every area of their lives to God: sexually, morally, financially, professionally, and personally
• Raising up a new generation of leaders to take this church into the future

We have a long way to go before that happens, and until it does I won’t be satisfied. Will you?