One of the most anointed younger preachers I have heard in many years is Dr. David Platt from Birmingham, Alabama. He will be preaching in all of our services on Sunday morning. Jeana and I look so forward to hearing him, but also for you to hear him. Friends, do not miss this moment. It will be a great day for our church. Make it a major priority to be on time for our services. Invite someone to come and hear David Platt this Sunday.

Sunday afternoon from 5:00-7:00 p.m. we are calling all of our servant-leaders in our church to come and hear one of America’s great leaders, Dr. Thom Rainer. He is the President and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. Friends, this will be one special time so do not miss hearing him. If you serve anywhere in this ministry, doing anything, whether you perceive yourself as a servant-leader or not, we need you here. Please make a strong commitment to be present Sunday afternoon.

We are privileged to have these men of God in our church because Jeana and I am hosting the Mega-Metro Conference for Pastors and Wives. Over 100 people will be with us from Monday through Wednesday noon. Pray for this gathering. These men pastor some of America’s strongest churches.

See you Sunday, it is also Children’s Day!

Spiritual revival is the number one need in the Great Commission Resurgence movement. Nothing is more needed in our lives, our churches, and in our convention of churches than spiritual revival. We are in desperate need for the refreshing wind of God’s Spirit to blow upon us.

Revival is the manifested presence of God in our lives. I believe we have a passion to see Him bring a mighty awakening to our land. We cannot minimize this need among us. It is only through God alone that we will ever experience this kind of movement of the Holy Spirit in our generation.

As I have talked to countless pastors, denominational leaders, and laypeople over the course of this past year, each one is quick to say that we must have a mighty move of God among us. There is a growing desperation for this movement to occur.

The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force is very convinced that spiritual revival is the ultimate answer to the challenges we face today. In our Progress Report, we gave a clear call for spiritual revival, yet it seems to have gotten lost or unintentionally ignored in the midst of all the discussion. In our Final Report that will be released on May 3rd, this call will move the challenge into some specific steps of action.

While we position ourselves spiritually and prayerfully pursue Jesus about it, we must at the same time take action to fulfill the Great Commission now. We will see a mighty move of God occur when we risk it all to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and make disciples of all the nations. Nothing will ignite this spiritual revival and serve as a catalyst to it occurring anymore than obedience to fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Now is the time for all of us to act on the Great Commission. We must be willing to risk it all for Jesus’ message to go throughout America and the world.

This next great movement of God we are praying for will look something like the following:

If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Since 2 Chronicles 7:14 is clear, we know the next great move of God will not occur where pride, prayerlessness, distractedness, and an unrepentant heart exists. If these serve as our choices for the way we do life and ministry, then nothing will change anywhere in life and ministry.

This is not what any of us desire. We want to see and be a part of a generation-shaping movement of God that looks like 2 Chronicles 7:14. Let’s heed the call of the Holy Spirit personally and call our churches to do the same collectively.

While we can position ourselves to experience spiritual revival, we need to remember that spiritual revival is a sovereign act of God towards His people. Therefore, may 2010 be when the mercy drops from our Sovereign Lord and falls upon us.

Would you stop at this moment and pray these words right now:

“Oh Lord, let revival begin in me today. Let it begin in my church today. Let it begin in our Southern Baptist Convention today. Let us experience a generation-shaping movement of God. Give us the desire, the power, and the resources to take the Gospel to places where the Gospel has never been before in America and across the entire world. Give us a genuine movement of the Spirit that leads to seeing a Great Commission Resurgence in our generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Sunday we celebrated 25 years of service given by our brother in Christ, Charlie Foster. When I arrived here almost 24 years ago, Charlie had just moved here from a pastorate in West Virginia. Just a few years earlier, he and his wife had come to Christ through our church. God called him to preach and he went to do his seminary education. Just after seminary, God called him to West Virginia, and now he has been on our team for 25 years.

Charlie loves people and is a man that brings joy into the lives of others. As our Minister of Pastoral Care and Senior Adults, he is used in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people on an annual basis. Charlie loves people and people love Charlie.

Without this man of God and his partnership in Christ, I could not do what I am able to do daily. His great love and work for Jesus has so influenced the lives of many people. I am very grateful and thankful for Charlie and Gloria, their children, and grandchildren.

I bless them and thank our God for the Fosters.

As I entered my time with God yesterday morning, I asked God to give me the strength to go forward. I honestly did not know where the strength would come from for yesterday. I was absolutely zapped of strength and energy. I know you have been there – when you feel you are living in a whirlwind of a schedule or activity.

Since last Saturday, it has been crazy. I preached twice on Saturday night and two more times on Sunday morning. After a quick lunch with family, I rushed home to finish packing to catch my commercial flight to Memphis. When I arrived in Memphis, I had a meeting with one of our task force members, retreated to my room and had to review many materials in preparation for the Monday meeting. Our meeting on Monday was highly significant and I led that meeting for six hours with some of Southern Baptist’s great leaders. The meeting had amazing results and to God alone be the praise. After wrapping up matters there, doing more work after others left, I rushed to my room to pack and get back to the airport for a late flight. After arriving home to watch the last half of the Basketball National Championship Game, sleep was welcome. However, early morning study resumed on Tuesday (Sunday is coming) and I entered into a three-hour meeting on our church’s future on Tuesday noon and then went into another meeting with our Leadership Team for 90 minutes. After that, I finished up email and went to Meredith’s family birthday party (Her birthday is today, so Happy Birthday, Meredith!), stayed there for a couple of hours and then came home to work through email, write articles, and other things. Then came yesterday, filled with early morning study, and a full day that I did not know how I would get through. I had a 75-minute interview via SKYPE to Southern Baptist Communicators, walked downstairs to EmCee a luncheon at Pinnacle Hills with just under 400 people honoring Charlie Foster, and after finishing that, walked into a television shoot for three hours (exhausting in and of itself), and then on to home to read, write, and try to find some recovery time.

Great news is: God answered my prayer and saw me through yesterday. I feel I am in a whirlwind of activity, but God is giving me strength and energy to go forth.

My point in this blog: When you think you are in a whirlwind, call upon God for power and strength. At times, He is the only one who can see you through. He has done this and is doing this for me. He can do the same for you.

About eight weeks ago I had an idea that I brought to our staff regarding the week of Easter. I asked this question, “What would it look like if we were to create unique Easter gatherings all throughout our region the week leading up to Easter Sunday?” We could possibly touch thousands of people in their neighborhoods, work places, schools, and communities with the story of Easter.

We quickly began strategizing about places we could go and share a Easter message in our community. Our staff got fired up about the idea and the impact it could have. Imagine having the opportunity to personally invite thousands of new people to Easter Sunday services over a seven-day period. We began adjusting our schedules and asking our people to notify us if they would like for one our staff team members to come and lead an Easter gathering.

The response was overwhelming. Last week we were able to lead 94 of these gatherings and share an Easter message with over 3066 people in our community. Each of these people heard the same message from John 3:1-7 with an emphasis on John 3:4. They also got a personal invitation to join us on Easter Weekend to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Throughout the week, we saw 67 people pray to receive Christ in one of these 94 venues. To God be the glory! God really does honor the idea of sowing the Gospel into the community.

We learned so much from “Easter in the Community” this first year and really believe that next year we will have the opportunity to share the hope of Easter with thousands of new people. If we were not able to host a gathering in our your neighborhood or work place, I challenge you to pray about hosting one this next year. God truly can touch and change our communities when we are willing to go and share His Word. I can’t wait to see what happens next year!

Committed to a process of learning and thinking together with Southern Baptists, I asked a group of Great Commission Resurgence Task Force members and state executive directors to meet in a conversation session designed to help us work together toward our final report in Orlando. We met for six hours on Monday, April 5, 2010 at the Stephen Olford Center of Union University in Memphis, Tennessee.  I am very thankful to David Dockery, president of Union University, for his gracious hosting of our conversation, and to all the men who participated in this meeting. 

We had a great time of honest and substantial conversation about our common concerns and, even more importantly, our common commitment to the Great Commission. These were serious men who met together in a great spirit. We talked honestly, heard each other, and made some real progress.

I am tremendously encouraged by the passions and vision of these men, and they were extremely helpful to us in clarifying our aims and moving to a set of recommendations that will get us to Orlando together. We spent most of our time talking about the issues that have been of greatest concern and interest to the state conventions. These guys believe in their state conventions and their work for the Great Commission, and we do too. They want to see the world reached for Christ, as we do too. On that common ground we made real progress.

When I presented the interim report of our task force back in February, I said that we wanted to hear from Southern Baptists as we worked toward our final report. I meant what I said, and I am so thankful to the many Southern Baptists who are helping us think and work through these crucial issues.  These state convention leaders were generous with their time and so honest in their thoughts. We are determined to get to Orlando together in a way that unifies Southern Baptists and propels us toward greater faithfulness at every level of our Baptist work.

I tried to bring together representative state leaders from various regions of the country and representative members of the GCR Task Force to foster this important conversation. In addition to President Johnny Hunt, participants included:

GCR Task Force Members
Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Chairman of the GCR Task Force
Dr. David Dockery
Dr. Jim Richards
Dr. Ted Traylor
Dr. Robert White
Dr. Ken Whitten
Dr. Albert Mohler

Executive Directors
Dr. Rick Lance, Alabama
Dr. John Sullivan, Florida
Dr. Anthony Jordan, Oklahoma
Dr. Bill Crews, Northwest Baptist Convention
Dr. Stephen Davis, Indiana
Dr. Jim Futral, Mississippi
Dr. David Hankins, Louisiana
Dr. Terry Robertson, New York

Celebrate this weekend with us at one of our six worship services. Surely you can participate in one of them.  This is the greatest weekend in the life of a Christian.  It should be a major priority in your life.  The cross and resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith.  It is more than worthy of our celebration.

Celebrate this weekend with us by bringing a friend or family member with you. Everywhere you go this week, invite someone to join you in one of our services.  Most people will consider the possibility of going to an Easter service somewhere, and they are more likely to go where they are invited to attend.  In this day where such disconnectedness exists, we need to connect people to worshipping Jesus Christ with us. Invite, invite, and invite people for this weekend.

Celebrate this weekend with us, insuring you have honored God with at least the first-tenth and offerings to our church since January 1. While we have faced difficult and challenging days in our weather over at least three weekends since January 1, let’s make up this Sunday for those Sundays we have been away.  For those of us who have been able to be here weekly, let’s give a special gift to Jesus on this Easter weekend.

Celebrate with us this weekend by following Christ in baptism. Many of our people are awaiting baptism, and Easter weekend is a tremendous time to follow Christ in baptism. Call our ministry and let’s get it done on this weekend.

Celebrate the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus with us this weekend

This week, in our first ever Easter in the Community ministry emphasis, the Gospel is being sown throughout Northwest Arkansas.  Yesterday, Nick had the privilege of sharing the Gospel in one of our local businesses.  He was permitted to share the Gospel.  At the end of the speaking time, a 53 year-old man accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  The Gospel is powerful and we are seeing its power revealed this week.

The Gospel is being sown all over our region this week and in God’s timing, we will see Gospel seed reaped, resulting in the lives of people being changed.  The Lord is being honored in these unique ministry opportunities all over our region this week.  Our Pastors are being faithful to the Word of God and really trying to connect this week with our weekend Resurrection Celebration.

Wherever you go this week, sow the Gospel.  In time, lives will be changed.  Remember, ” … the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.” (Romans 1:16)

Thank God for the Gospel!

There are many churches that like to refer to themselves as Great Commission Churches. But what are the indicators that you truly are a Great Commission Church? The answer is simple. A Great Commission church is involved in activity that results in the Gospel of Jesus Christ being shared with the lost.

Over the past couple of weeks our church has been in one major effort to share Christ with as many lost people as possible during what is known as Spring Break week(s). We are committed to the Great Commission not only in word but deed. Let me share just a small glimpse of that activity.

Great Commission church work should always begin in a local context and we do this through many venues in Northwest Arkansas called IMPACT ministry. Basically, through a retrofitted moving van equipped fully with audio/visual and ministry supplies, we bring church to the community in nine different locations across NWA. Our season was kicked off last week, and in one club alone at Springdale Ridge Apartments there were four older teens come to Christ. Volunteers are fired up! Ministry continued to many other locations across America and the world. We sent a team to Tampa Florida to partner in planting Covenant Life Church. MOTION traveled to Oklahoma City for a week of ministry while performing and sharing Christ in many schools and neighborhoods. Shiloh Christian School sent a team to the Recife Brazil area and did evangelism in different areas. Haiti continues to be a focus point as we have had teams and volunteers at JoyHouse since two weeks after the earthquake. The wife of a Voodoo Priest came to Christ as well as hundreds of others through daily ministry of sharing and caring. Malawi Africa is home to our ministry called Esther’s House, an orphanage base of ministry to the vulnerable of the Ntcheu district and beyond. This team of 13 went into unreached villages carrying the gospel to those who may never have the opportunity to hear the message of salvation.

Yes, this is the Great Commission and your church is a Great Commission Church. All in all through these two weeks of ministry, over 1300 people responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ to trust HIM as Lord and Savior. Now that is what the Great Commission Church is all about.

Hey, maybe you don’t know this, but it was on the Monday before Easter in 1984 that someone brought the gospel to my home and I was gloriously saved and changed forevermore! Thanks to that Great Commission Church, I am who I am today, leading this wonderful Great Commission Church as the Global Missions Pastor. What an honor!

This week we will conduct over 100 Easter experiences in places of business, multi-family units, retirement villages, and many other types of places. We are taking Easter worship experiences into the community this year. Our goal is to go where the people are, minister to them, help prepare them for this Easter week celebration, share the Gospel when we are permitted, and invite people to one of our Easter Worship Celebration Services next weekend. God put this vision into my heart about three months ago, we have developed it, and we will measure its effectiveness following our week in the community.

Our pastors are all speaking from John 3:1-7, centering in on verse 3. Jesus told us that unless one be born again, he or she cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. We will tell them about the story that changed the world as well as each one of our lives. We are praying and believing God for a great week in our community.

Invite people to one of out six Easter Worship Services next weekend.

Springdale Campus Services

• Saturday, April 3 at 6:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 4 at 9:15 & 10:55 a.m.

Pinnacle Hills Campus Services

• Saturday, April 3 at 5 p.m.
• Sunday, April 4 at 9:15 & 10:55 a.m.