WELCOMING OTHERS TO THE FAMILY!

Recently I read a statement that relates to many churches. The statement read like this: "Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited...until you try to sit in their pew." Obviously this is an overexaggeration for most churches, but there is a hint of truth. How many of us on a given Sunday go out of our way to make new people (guests) feel at home and welcome in our church family?
At First Baptist Marion, we average well over 50 guests every Sunday. When guests come to FBC they often have questions in their minds like a person visiting a store for the first time. Truly many of them are "church shoppers." They are asking these kind of questions:

* Am I needed?
* Can I make friends here?
* Where do I fit in?
* Is this worth the effort of my time?
* Are these people real?
* Can my life really change?

I am more and more convinced that before Sunday guests will buy into or believe our Sunday message of salvation or even become interested in one of our many ministries, they must first buy into our people. This means YOU! Every Sunday we need to extend our spiritual antennas to look for and minister to our guests. We need to be like Paul and his staff as they related to the people in Thessalonica when he said, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you, not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us (1 Thess. 2:8)."

Before we can connect new people to Christ, our Sunday School classes, or even a ministry, we must first choose to intentionally connect ourselves to new people. I want you to make this your mission this week. Let's show new people the love of Jesus and that at FBC of Marion, we truly mean it when we say yourLIFEmatters!

Popular posts from this blog

The Trouble with Consistency!

Image
Consistency...now this is a word that seems to be completely lost in our modern day society. Consistency means "a steadfast adherence to the same principle, course, form, or way of life." In other words, a person who is consistent is one who holds to a set of beliefs or actions regardless of the ever-changing world around him or her. Currently, we are living in an ever-changing world. Consistency is a lost art form in this world. From day to day, the information we are being told about life, politics, economics, business, and even a pandemic changes almost by the hour. There are very few consistent messages in our world today. The things we have consistently believed as Americans based on our Constitution, our Founders, and even scripture are now changing by the day. That which was once considered to be moral and right is now considered to be wrong. Those things which were once considered to be immoral, shameful, and wrong are now being promoted as the norm or society. Con
Read more

REFLECTIONS AT 40...

Image
On February 5th I turned 40 years old. Out of love for me, I was thoroughly harassed by my staff who came to work wearing all black to "mourn the death of my youth." Additionally, I was greeted with a black coffin in my office, streamers declaring that I was "over the hill," and one friend even gave me a gift of products one would readily find at the local nursing home. You know...it is a great thing to have friends who genuinely love you enough to go to all this trouble to see that I had a GREAT birthday! I do appreciate and love them. Now that I am 40, I began to think about things that I have learned and found to be true over the past 40 years. Can I share some of these important thoughts with you today? 1. My father was right when he taught me this truth: "It is not what happens to you in life that matters. What matters is how you react to it." 2. John Maxwell was right when he said, "Everything rises and falls on leadership." 3. Personal e
Read more