This past weekend at Harvest

THis was our final weekend at Harvest. It was awesome. Here is how it is described at James MacDonald's Straight Up Blog (It's worth following the link for the encouargement of seeing many drawn forward by the Gospel message):

'Wow, what a great weekend, truly a plentiful harvest at Harvest. Greg Laurie, a dear friend who pastors a different Harvest in Riverside California and a truly gifted evangelist, came and preached the gospel at “our Harvest” as hundreds made first time decisions to follow Christ. Among those professions of faith were some people we had been loving and praying about for months or even years.

Hey, not just at our church but around the country as I travel . . . why does it seem that most of the people talk talk talking about reaching the culture are doing such a meager job of it. Why is it that from frustrated old college professors to angry young mega church haters, the vast majority of people waxing eloquent about their passion to penetrate the culture with the gospel are bearing such scanty, sparse, spartan, even scarce fruit? By fruit I mean actual living breathing men and women turning from sin and self and embracing Jesus Christ as Savior and Master of their souls.

Occasionally this comes to mind when we are seeing a great harvest of souls in our own church, ’cause we never spend any time talking about ‘how to reach our culture,’ we just keep praying and sewing the seed and proclaiming Christ. Yet individually and together we are seeing upwards of 1k adults annually embrace the cross in all it’s glory. We’re not sneaky, were not clever; I’m not writing any books or holding any conferences on ‘how to do it,’ but by God’s grace we are penetrating our culture with the gospel. I think some people need to be a little more honest about what they really mean when they say “reaching the culture.” Here’s three things I think they mean:

1) They mean reaching people very different from themselves. Who doesn’t long to see people so different than we are taken and shaken by the awesomeness of who Jesus Christ really is? Such conversions are the best stories in any church and even in the book of Acts, yet more typically don’t we see people reaching people like themselves? Isn’t it much more common for us to win lost souls from inside our own cultural subset? Mom’s are the best ones to reach hurting mom’s. People who have been through a broken marriage are better at reaching someone in that heartache. Converted homosexuals will always be most effective at reaching back into that darkness and pulling others to light and liberty, etc.

2) They mean reaching secular people who have no interest in God All of us feel the weight of the teaming masses of people passing by us on the freeway or at the mall with no apparent interest in Christ, the joy of our souls. Every sincere believer has felt their faith numbed by the democracy of unbelief. Of course we want to win the aimless arrogant graduate student so articulate in his atheism, but why? Could it be that we want to win such people because framing the arguments to penetrate their secularism bolsters our own faith. Do we see Jesus spending a lot of time targeting people with no time for God? Do we see Paul dialoguing ad nausea with high profile intellectuals? Might the fascination–even preoccupation–of some churches with Mars Hill/Acts 17 flow from a misguided fear that the gospel is not universally relevant if it is not successful in every quadrant of society?

3) They mean reaching cool people who make them feel cool. One of the most disturbing trends in the emergent church is the focus on ’style.’ Living in Wrigleyville, (Chicago) or Greenwich Village (New York) etc. is most assuredly ‘cool.’ And seeking to share Christ with the masses of immensely immoral 20 somethings that inhabit such regions is a worthy goal; but why is that target so popular? Almost everyone it seems wants access to the arts district in Austin Tx., or the uptown area of Atlanta. Who is this about really? When did style statements, and fashionable eye wear, and how I dress and how I act, and my toootally tasteful music preferences become such a key ingredient in reaching ‘the culture?’ Who is all this really about? Is it about lost broken people in these areas dying without Christ and without hope? Or is it about me choosing a place of ministry that advances my personal mission of self expression? I’m just asking . . .

2Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Cultures don’t come to Christ, Individuals do. Watch a couple of our recent baptism/highlight videos and you will see that people from different races, varied social economic sub groups, and very different backgrounds all come to Christ for the same reason.

1) I thought my life was going great ’til God dropped a ‘boulder’ (some point of acute need) on me and I saw how pointless, empty, dark, or dismal my future was without Him.

2) A caring person intersected my life with true compassion just as my heart opened to the reality that another round of self repair was not going to fix anything.

3) the good news of Jesus Christ’s love and forgiveness was given to me boldly and plainly and I opened my heart by faith to what I finally knew I needed most of all.

I think it’s high time we started challenging the ‘talk about it people’ to get over themselves and dive into the messy business of actually doing it. Cultures don’t come to Christ, people do, one at a time.'