Start Picking!

God has a funny sense of humor.  After sharing with you all this past Sunday morning, how my family thinks I’m the G.O.A.T., I was quickly put back in my proper place.  Yesterday, at our NJ District Pastor’s Conference, I was given some very humbling news—at least for me and the rest of the preachers in attendance.  According to most recent research and statistics, pastors are the least effective persons when it comes to actually bringing outside people into church.  You read that correctly.  I am the least effective.

Apparently, I’m not as important as I think! People see a preacher coming and they run the opposite direction. For the most part, studies show that before a preacher can even begin a conversation with the intent to invite people to church, their audience is already compiling excuses in their heads and looking for a quick exit from the conversation.  Bummer! 
 
But… all hope is not lost!  The good news is that YOU are the ones who have the power. You are the effective outreach-ers to our community on behalf of our church. You are the effective bringers of the Gospel. You are the listened to inviters for our community. And you don’t have to go stand on a soapbox in the middle of a crowd; you can stay off the random street corners.  The same research shows that most fruit is gathered and collected as you engage people you already have relationships with—seeking to connect people to Jesus where you live, work, and play.  Jesus wasn’t joking when he said, “the harvest is plentiful” (Matt. 9:37). 

This crop is indeed ripe for picking, and it is filled with our closest friends, neighbors, and coworkers. And I’ve seen it happen here!  The evidence is in church on Sunday mornings, about 3-4 pews from the front, on the pulpit side of the sanctuary.  Longtime member Janet, about a year ago, invited her friend Ellen.  Ellen has been coming ever since.  Months later, Janet and Ellen invited Susan. Susan has been coming ever since.  All three of them have more recently invited other friends to join them—and they have.  Ellen and Susan will be in our New Member Class in the New Year.  Perhaps they’ll have a few other friends sitting beside them. These three ladies tell me that their goal is to “fill up an entire pew.” 

Praise God! 😊
What a wonderful, goal.
One that we should all have.
Let’s fill up these pews!