Why Wouldn't We...?

So we are five weeks into the launch of our second service and, honestly, I have never seen our gathering more passionate about carrying out our mission at Centerpoint: “To lead people into a relationship with Jesus Christ…” and our strategy: “To partner with culture to tear down unnecessary barriers to the Gospel”.

I specifically want to encourage you to be bold and ask someone to join you for one of our services this Sunday at 9 or 11 AM. This is one of those talks that is perfect for those who have been turned off by the church or “Jesus followers” as well as for those who consider themselves “Jesus followers”. Seriously take advantage of this opportunity Sunday as well as the remaining couple weeks of this series. You have no idea what’s at stake with a simple invite! That was never more evident than this past Sunday (one of my all time favorites at CC).

A couple stories…

• A college student invited five friends from her college campus in St. Pete. She came up after the second service to tell us about her Agnostic friend who was in tears during the service and immediately began asking questions about God.
• Another CCer shared with us that his openly Atheistic father-in-law, who’s been hostile toward the church, came to the 11 am service after years of being invited (so don’t give up on who you’ve been inviting). He was extremely impressed by our volunteers and, in a positive way, his experience was nothing like he thought it would be– high praise from an Atheist who’s been hostile to church! It has opened the door to several conversations since Sunday.
• A high school girl came last Wednesday and told one of our leaders she has a lot of questions about God. She came again Sunday WITH her parents! That’s why we constantly tell people it’s safe to come and to have questions.
• We also had the privilege of talking to three men Sunday who either had questions about Jesus or a desire to follow Jesus: One man is struggling with an addiction, one told us his story of running from God, and the other is currently on probation from a recent arrest!
• Dang, that reminds me of Jesus eating with the sinners & tax collectors…and if the church is the representative of Jesus’ body on earth, then maybe we are on to something! Maybe there is something to this grace & truth thing! ☺

Last Sunday reminded me again what’s at stake EVERY week. Stories like the above are represented in our services every Sunday; so why wouldn’t we give our lives to seeing people’s view of the church and consequently Jesus change forever? Why wouldn’t we pray for boldness to invite people whose lives may change forever as a result? Why wouldn’t we invest in the lives of these children & students who are looking for answers and hope? Why wouldn’t we give generously to Jesus’ church to see this happen?

You have to understand this doesn’t happen by accident. People are giving sacrificially & generously, passionately serving, and INVESTING & INVITING like crazy. So to those people we say “THANK YOU” and to others who are on the fence, I want to encourage you to step into being a part of this unstoppable movement that is the church.

This past Sunday was also our largest non-holiday attendance ever. HIS church continues to grow. The number of people in both services is very even, which gives us a great opportunity to continue to reach more people in both time slots this Fall.

As a pastor friend of mine says, “we can’t lead anyone to fall in love with Jesus but we can keep setting up the dates!” And that’s what we plan to do – everything short of sin to remove unnecessary barriers to the Gospel, preach grace & truth, invite EVERYBODY in and keep settin’ up the dates.

Love you all! The best is yet to come!

Bryant (fellow bridge builder & lead pastor)