I love the local church

In recent weeks my wife, Lisa, and I have had the privilege of being a part of Harvest Community Church, a new Converge church plant. Lee Stephenson, executive director of Converge Church Planting, has assembled a great team to start this new work in our area. The national office staff and many other strong believers are engaged in this new work because we believe church planting is one of the best forms of evangelism to reach a community.

We are now a few months into the church plant, and things are going really well. The team is coming together, there has been lots of prayer and new people seem to be connecting with this new church. All this is great, and we’re thankful to God for the opportunity.

Three things really excite me about this season in Lisa’s and my ministry: First, some of our neighbors were able to make it to Harvest a few weeks ago. We’ve been working really hard in our neighborhood to cultivate relationships and plant the seeds of Christ in people’s lives. Having a great church is a great tool in our personal evangelistic efforts.
 
Second, I get energized by the responses of new people to this new effort. One Sunday I served as a greeter and overheard a man tell his guest, “I love this church and I think you will too.” People need to feel they can partner with their church to help their friends take the next steps in their personal journey.

Third, being part of a church plant has changed the topic of our conversations with our friends. Conversations about sports, weather and family have been redirected to reaching neighbors, coworkers, relatives, friends and classmates with the gospel. Our new church has refocused our conversations from our preferences to God’s priorities.

I love the local church. God desires your church to partner with him to help many people meet, know and follow Jesus. I hope this edition of Point challenges you to partner with your church to see “each one reach one.”