One week from today we will know how Southern Baptists have voted on the GCR recommendations. Countless tweets, articles, and blogs have been written regarding how the proposed recommendations will affect our convention of churches. Some believe adopting these recommendations will be a major step forward while others see it as the beginning of the unraveling of our convention. Some who oppose the GCR have forecast the worst possible scenarios. Some have expressed genuine concerns. Instead of imagining the worst, I want us to think about what could happen. The “What If.”

Let’s imagine “What If” the GCR recommendations are overwhelmingly adopted by the messengers of our convention next week.

(1) What If…the GCR brought together our convention of churches who rallied around our missional vision and we saw more people saved, baptized, and discipled than we’ve seen in decades?

(2) What If…instead of the demise of the Cooperative Program, we saw a dramatic increase in Cooperative Program giving?

(3) What If…we planted countless churches in our unreached and underserved regions of our own country?

(4) What If…we reached more unreached people groups around the world as a result of more funding and focus going to the nations?

(5) What If…our national entities, state conventions, and local associations partnered with and assisted our churches to greater Great Commission fulfillment than ever before?

(6) What If…we captured the heart of generation who is ready to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth?

(7) What If…we united like never before, creating a new and healthy culture that is God-glorifying in our convention?

“What If”…we had a Great Commission Resurgence?

This is not about the SBC. It’s not about a Task Force. It’s simply about the Gospel. As a convention of churches, what gives us the greatest opportunity to get the Gospel to every person in the world and make disciples of all the nations? I believe the GCR is a step towards that goal. I’ll be voting yes…and I’ll be hoping, praying, and working towards the “What If.”

Sunday was a memorable day in the life of our church. The morning kicked off with a powerful message from David Platt. It concluded with an interesting and challenging look from Thom Rainer on where the culture is and encouraged each one of our members to live as ministers. Both of these men challenged us towards the fulfillment of Christ’s Great Commission entrusted to each one of us. So what do we do? How do we first of all process what we heard, and second, how do we wear it?

The first step is making sure we got the message. Many of us may need to go to the church website and watch the message again and let God’s Word sink deep into our hearts. Others may need to simply take a look at their notes from Sunday morning or the many important components of Dr. Rainer’s study on Sunday night. Take some time in your personal time with God this week to review what we were told as a church through these two men.

Next, we must examine our own lives. What is God telling us to do? The greatest thing about hearing a man of God preach from the Word of God is that the Spirit of God penetrates our hearts in ways we may have never expected. God may have pricked your heart towards an area of your life that neither Dr. Platt nor Dr. Rainer spoke about. Let these questions from David Platt cause us to examine our hearts.

• Are we choosing comfort or the cross?
• Are we settling for maintenance or sacrificing for mission?
• Will our lives be marked by indecisive minds or undivided hearts?

Last but certainly not least, we must obey. The danger with not obeying quickly is that we often get consumed with life and end up forgetting what God has told us to do. Were you one that God has called to live more on mission with Him? Were you one that needs to live sacrificially? Were you one that God dealt with on a completely different subject? My simple encouragement is to obey. What God told you yesterday, do today. As a church, we must take what we heard on Sunday and commit to God’s mission once again. Let me encourage you to be in church this Sunday as we talk about how we will be taking this next step in fulfilling God’s mission.

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!

During my childhood, some of my greatest memories occurred in and around church. I remember learning invaluable theology in Vacation Bible School. I learned of having a personal and dynamic relationship with Jesus during our annual Student Ministry summer camp. I remember learning how to disciple others through the process of mentoring and pouring your life into others. Each of these lessons permanently indented my life and influenced my future.

My spiritual education, perhaps like yours, was a process of discovery as I watched the faith of my parents, asked questions, read the Bible, prayed and tried to emulate others around me. You may recall those days when the table at the front of the sanctuary was draped with a white cloth…you know that table that usually held the massive church Bible. Periodically that table would be transformed to hold what was to most kids crackers and grape juice. The pastor would talk about it and then pass the crackers and the juice. It was a pretty solemn deal. The service usually consisted of quiet music, lots of praying and then a celebration at the end where the people kind of looked like they were relieved the service was over…But what was this service all about?

This service, I learned, is called the Lord’s Supper and is one of two ordinances of the church. Just as baptism visually represents the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, the Lord’s Supper is an observance that symbolizes the sacrifice of Jesus at the crucifixion. The passing of the elements (bread and juice) symbolizes the fact that Jesus’ body was broken and His blood was shed for the remission of my sins and yours. Wow! Now that is worth celebrating. This Sunday, our church will celebrate the Lord’s Supper at all of our services. When we begin to observe this symbolic moment, consider what Christ did for you on that cross. It truly should be a solemn moment when believers recall the excruciating sacrifice of our Savior. While it is solemn to consider the gravity of the sacrifice, the service always ends in celebration because of the reminder that the sins of every believer have been wiped away.

Pastor will also be preaching in conjunction with this service and there truly is no greater example of generosity ever given. May this week serve as an incredible reminder of Christ’s benevolent nature towards us. I can’t wait to see what God will do in my life through this time of remembrance and the sermon Pastor will preach. I am fired up about Sunday.

Hope to see you there.

Every time I read the book of Matthew, I am challenged by Jesus’ final words to us, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.” Jesus propelled us to live on mission. He gave us a “sending” strategy for how we are live our lives. We are called to go and tell the world the story of His life, death, and resurrection. There is no greater season for us to tell this story than EASTER. Think about the hope we have because of His resurrection. I continue to meet people who have never heard the truth of His resurrection.

This year we are taking the story and hope of Easter to our community. We are hosting Easter Gatherings all over our region to share the story of Easter. We would love to come to your place of business, school, community event, or even your neighborhood to lead one of these gatherings. Each gathering will last about 45 minutes to one hour, and our pastors will be sharing a special message to help people hear a message of hope found only in the Gospel. If you are interested in hosting one of these events, please email us at easter@fbcs.net and one of our ministers will contact you to set up a time for the gathering. Imagine with me what could be more missional than us flooding our community with the Easter story on Monday March 29 – Saturday, April 3.

I would also like to challenge each of you to invite and bring your friends, neighbors, and co-workers to one of our six Easter weekend services at our Springdale and Pinnacle campuses. Easter may be the only time that a family member or loved one will attend church. We want to share a message of life-change and hope with thousands of people throughout our region on this day. Would you please pray about who God would have you bring? We will be having a special time of Easter Baptism in all of our services. If you are interested in being baptized on Easter weekend, please email me at shawns@fbcs.net. I would love to talk with you and schedule a time for you to be baptized. Many people are baptized on Easter every year. It is a great time to celebrate baptism with family and friends present. Have a great Easter season and remember to tell the greatest story the world can ever know – Christ is risen, He is alive!

This past Sunday we introduced to our church an Easter strategy that we believe will help us reach out more during the Easter season than we ever have before. Instead of waiting for people to come to our church this Easter weekend, we are going to them! We laid out a strategy called “Easter in the Community.” Here are the basic principles:

We want to hold as many Easter gatherings (mini-worship services) as possible across our region the week of Easter. We told our members we would love to send a minister to their place of business and hold one of these gatherings. We set up an email account for people in our church to email their request for a pastor to come and lead their service.

This has incredible potential and is a way for us to challenge our people to be missionaries in their workplaces. There are limitless opportunities for the Gospel to be extended through an outreach like this. At each one of these gatherings, an Easter message will be presented along with an invite to one of our services on Easter weekend. This means hundreds of people across our region will hear what Jesus Christ has done for them and be invited to a place where they can hear further about our Savior.

Maybe you’re a pastor reading this blog and you want to implement this strategy as well. It’s obviously our first time doing it, but we feel it has limitless potential to touch our community with the hope of the Gospel. If you attend our church and would like to have one of these Easter gatherings at your place of business, please email easter@fbcs.net if you attend the Springdale Campus or easter@churchph.com if you attend the Pinnacle Hills Campus. Let’s band together and take Easter to our community!

I was blessed to be in Nashville Monday night for what many believe was a significant and historic night in Southern Baptist history.  It was the culmination and in some ways the celebration of months of labor.  I will count it as one of the greatest privileges of my life to have been involved in the GCR process throughout the last eight months assisting my dad with various aspects of his assignment as Chairman.  What I saw Monday was simply a continuation of countless conversations of 22 godly men and women committed to the Great Commission.  I guarantee that each one of the Task Force members would sit across the dinner table from you and explain their heart for the next generation of pastors and missionaries.  With a heart for the Great Commission and for the next generation, this group has wholeheartedly dedicated themselves to this year long process.  They are giving so much, so in turn, let me give some thoughts as a 26- year-old pastor in this convention.  Young pastors…here’s what I believe the GCR means for you and for me.

It’s time to answer the call. The GCR is an incredible vision.  Thousands of Southern Baptists can rally behind our missional vision that expresses a desire to “present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations.”  However, if we don’t answer the call, the GCR will only go so far.  Take the proposed changes for The North American Mission Board.  What an incredible vision it is to see that 50% of their budget from now on (if accepted and acted upon) will go directly to church planting.  But what is the vision worth if there are not capable, passionate young pastors ready to answer the call to reach the cities and under-served regions of our country?  The same is true for the proposed changes to the International Mission Board.  If there aren’t young pastors and families willing to forsake all for the cause of Christ in missions, who cares that the IMB may get an extra 1% of all SBC CP dollars  and the freedom to reach unreached people groups in the United States?  In other words, the GCR needs you.  The movement will soon die without young pastors who will take the torch of the Gospel and run to the darkest places of this earth.  It’s time for you and your family to answer the call.

It’s time to get involved. Our convention is structured in such a way that the people who show up are the people who get a say.  If we want to influence where our money goes, ensure our entities are fulfilling the Great Commission, and have a say in other details, then we have to show up and get involved.  Come to the convention in Orlando.  Bring 10 messengers from your church.  Vote for the GCR for the sake of the nations.  Call your state convention, NAMB, or the IMB and talk about ways they can assist your church in fulfilling the Gospel mission.

It’s time to drop the cynicism. The time of sideline coaching has passed. You may say, “Well I don’t like the way things are.”  Then do something about it.  “Well I hate politics.”  Then don’t be political.  The negativity and cynicism are not helpful or needed.  The GCR is nothing about denominational politics and it’s certainly not about keeping things status quo.  This is a movement bringing change.  I’ve described last year’s convention to people in this way.  There were no long arguments about issues that weren’t important.  It was as if the majority of the convention said, “Forget all this.  Let’s go for the Gospel,” and the GCR motion was overwhelmingly approved and the movement spread.

It’s time to risk it all. David Platt said something to the effect of “Let’s risk it all” in his message to the SBC last June.  This is really a message for young pastors and all pastors in general related to the GCR.  Is the Great Commission Resurgence really worth the risk?  Is it really worth spending money to be involved with various meetings and events of the SBC?  Is it really worth our time to discuss complex issues within our denomination to try to make us more effective?  The answer is yes.  The answer is not yes because of the Great Commission Resurgence movement.  The answer is yes because I believe the Southern Baptist Convention is the most capable force for missions and the Gospel in the world.  More than anything the answer is yes because the Gospel is worth it all.  It’s worth the money, it’s worth the inconvenience, it’s worth the time, it’s worth our most valiant efforts.  Let’s risk all this for the cause of the Gospel going forth and the nations being brought to Jesus.  What if God used a group like us to finish the task?  That’s worth the risk.

Why do I really love my church? As I reflect over the last 23+ years here, there are many reasons why I love this church. Let me share just a few.

First of all, it’s been the extension of belief of our home, a great investment in our children’s lives in their formative years. Our church is the place that affirmed what we attempted to teach our children at home. It’s been where both of our children were saved. It’s been where childcare workers, youth pastors, small group leaders, and others influenced their lives forever. I can’t think of another organization that makes its focus so strategic to teach our children and youth the eternal truths of God.

Secondly, it’s been a place where joys and sorrows alike have been shared. The “body” reaching out in crises is like no other – I am always amazed at the outpouring of God’s people in times of personal crisis. We have been both the “giver” and the “recipient” in this area of church life. Equally, our church has celebrated the victories and joys of life as well as the challenges. I have seen this played out over and over again, not only in our life personally, but in many lives in this church. The “body of Christ” is an amazing thing!

Thirdly, it’s been a place to grow spiritually. The influence from the pulpit is immeasurable; the impact of fellow believers as we journey in life together, and the encouragement to follow Christ in our individual lives, as well as corporately, has been the “map of my life.”

Weekly corporate worship is invaluable. It’s what prepares me for life on a weekly basis. It’s what gives me hope in the face of trials. It’s the joy of fellowshipping with other believers regularly – seeing victories come and sharing the burdens as well.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love this church!

Over 1,000 people at our church recently went on the 21 day journey of fasting and prayer that we just concluded this past Sunday. Times like this are always challenging yet refreshing and spiritually productive. What I want to challenge you today with is how to live beyond the journey.

For many of you, the things you fasted and prayed about were things that were a part of your everyday life outside of the journey. You wanted to see God move in the life of a son or daughter or see victory over a certain sin that you’d been struggling with for years. My encouragement to you is to not let the journey stop. Even though you’re not fasting from food or abstaining from watching television, don’t think the spiritual journey has to stop. Part of the benefit of setting aside time to fast and to pray is that benefit we receive when we head back into the real world. We are hopefully more sensitive to God and His Spirit, more attentive to His moving in our lives, and more committed to His Word. Do everything you can to maintain this mindset.

Many others didn’t go with us on the journey. Whether you’re a member of our church or you’re just randomly reading this blog today, you can go on a journey with God beginning today. All you need to do to go on a journey with God is come to God. James tells us, “Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you.” It really is as easy as that. Do you need to grow in your walk with Christ? Do you need to rid your life of sin? Begin a new journey with God today.

We’ll see you Sunday as we continue our series on Joel with a message called, “Even Now…God Answers Prayer.” Please pray for Pastor Floyd and the GCR Task Force as their meetings conclude today.

Last year at this time, I was praying and asking the Lord to give me a “word” for 2009. A word that I could focus on and study for the entire year. A word that God would use in my life to make me more like Him. As I prayed and read the Bible, I kept coming across the word LOVE. Even when I turned the radio or the television on, I was hearing and seeing this word or theme of Love. Over the last year, I have studied this word for my own life. Did you know that the word love is in the scriptures over 700 times? God has so much to say about this word. I believe that love is the central theme that runs all throughout Christianity. I don’t know all that God will continue to do with this word in my life in 2010, but I do believe He has already begun to show me and teach me some very specific things concerning the word love. Here is just a little of what I am learning.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says,

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy; and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

Listen to what this passage of scripture says. It says, all other gifts are called useless or worthless without love. It says that if we do a lot of good works for God but do not love, we are just making a bunch of noise. I pray that I do more than just make a bunch of noise for Jesus. I pray that our church does more than just make a bunch of noise for Jesus. I want to see people the way God sees people. I want to love people the way Jesus loves people. I want to love God the way that He created me to love him and I want to experience His love in a fresh new way each and every day.

1 John 4:19 says,

“We love, because He first loved us.”

This passage of scripture tells us that we love only because God first loved us. I don’t believe we can love others the way Christ intends for us to love others until we experience His love. On August 19, 1991 sitting in a gymnasium right here at First Baptist Church Springdale, Jesus Christ came into my life and changed me forever from the inside out. I experienced His love and I have never been the same.

1 John 4:7-12 says,

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

Listen to what verse 7 says, love comes from God and verse 8 says God is love. Wow, what exciting and encouraging words from scripture. The only way we will ever be able to love the way God intended for us to love is when we are in an intimate and growing relationship with Jesus. Everything we need comes from Him. I can not love my wife, my son, my friends, my family, or anyone else the way that God intended if I do not first accept His love and then love Jesus the way that God intended for me to love Him.

I have had to ask myself the question, do I love people the way Jesus loves people? I have also had to ask if I am willing to do what it takes to love like Jesus loved. I have asked if I am experiencing God’s love in such a way that I can love people the way God loves people. I would encourage you to ask yourself the same questions. If love is meeting needs and I believe it is, then you have got to experience God’s love before you can give it away. My prayer for myself and for our church is that we would experience God’s love in a fresh new way and give it away without hesitation.