Inspired to Impact the World :: Monday E-Devotion

Coming off the high of being at the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor's Conference is awesome. I keep running some of the images, stories and celebration through my mind only to find more stuff that gets my motor going. No, I am not talking about the controversies or tough business. I am talking about the stuff that makes being part of a group of like minded people so exciting.

We choose to be a part of the group because we can accomplish more together than we can alone. I believe the greatest impact of the convention was the pressing forward of our method of supporting missions, the Cooperative Program (learn more at www.cpmissions.net).

I don't want to bore you with other stuff, but I do want to give you some stuff to think about. This year's Pastor's Conference was 'off the hook'. That means awesome. This event takes place every year. I have been to 10 or so of them, and this one was by far the best.

In today's e-devotion I want to give you some notes from Erwin McManus and what he shared last Monday afternoon (as well as a couple other notes from me. I pray you will be challenged to serve God with greater gusto!

"People aren't turned off to Jesus, they're just tired of Christians who don't really follow him." - Rick Warren

That is an awesome statement from Rick Warren. McManus used Acts 17:16-27 as his text and shared how we are to get the world, the lost people, to hear our Savior's story. Paul, in those verses, pointed out that the people at Mars Hill had an unknown God in the Areopagus. At that point the Apostle turned the people to see that God is who and what they have need of.

Here are just a few of the big points I got from Erwin McManus (learn more about him at his church website www.mosaic.org):

--- you can be close to God and have God all around you and be oblivious to God.

--- the church isn't here for us. We are here for the world.

--- they are not rejecting us. They just don't understand what we are saying (we have to speak the language of lost people).

--- if our story is not connecting with lost people it is not connecting what we know.

--- some people think they have to be irrelevant to believe in God.

--- become a prophet of "the unknown god", what people (and us) do not know can be known. (Unknown is the sense in which a person does not know, understand or connect to the one true God.)

--- a pastor is an interpreter of information.

That stuff lit my fire.

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns. One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns. When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her. Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved. Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?" Beverly said, "Why yes I do." Edith said, "Well, what do you ...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

wash feet, sharing hope

John 13:4-5,14 NLT So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him… 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. Jesus set the example we follow. He served. He valued and gave value to others. That is why we choose to serve. For 18 years our church has shared an outreach called back2school, and for 16 of those years we have chosen to give students brand new shoes and socks as well as washing their feet. It is one of the most important parts of this event. Washing feet is a humbling experience where both the give and the receiver learn how to share some moments that might change their lives. Jesus said we should do this. See the verse above. Follow His example, do what He did, and give far more than you will ever know....

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

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