Geography Matters

When you read this, my plane will be landing back in the United States having been in the country of Moldova for a week.  In partnering with John Maxwell’s EQUIP, I was honored to teach Christian leadership principles to pastors who will have journeyed long distances to hear an American pastor.  Two weeks ago, in working with New Hope Moldova, your response in supporting orphanages and financially adopting children in this part of the world was so appreciated.  You kept kids off the streets from being kidnapped into sex trafficking.  You became Difference Makers.

Presently, our Compassion Pastor, Keith Norman, is leading our church to adopt a neighborhood of families who may have financial challenges this coming Christmas. Our Local Compassion Team is providing an opportunity for the needs of each family to be adopted.  The management of the community has not only invited us into their neighborhood, but is joining us in our efforts with assistance that is overwhelming - another chance for us to be Difference Makers.

Our preschool and elementary kids are participating in Operation Christmas Child where families can package shoeboxes with essential items for underprivileged kids around the world.  A family in our church, who adopted their daughter from Latvia, shared her story two weeks ago at BridgePointe, sharing when she received a shoebox gift for this same organization… because someone was a Difference Maker. It is our turn now.

Geography matters to God.  It is a strange thought, I know.  But the maps in the back of our Bibles (that tend to stick together because we never use them) are intended to be a visual lesson of this very principle.  The maps show specific and strategic places where God’s people were being sent.  This was a simple reminder that God does not do “random” or “accidental”.  There is a sovereign and divine plan behind “sent Christians” that is the story behind the story.  There is a person on the receiving end of our compassion and message that is unknown to us, but known to God.

In Acts 16:6-10, Paul was prevented from speaking the message in Asia as a divine closed door they understood to be from God.  Instead, Paul was given a dream of a man in Macedonia pleading for help and proceeded there by faith.  What Paul did not know is that God was already at work ahead of time.  He was at work in the heart of a wealthy businesswoman, named Lydia, wondering if there was a greater purpose in life than just success.  God was preparing a demonized girl to experience freedom from bondage from the evil things in this world.  He was working in the life of a middle-class jailer who would later discover life in Jesus and be the spiritual anchor for his family that he always wanted to be.

Geography matters to God. The person God is preparing beforehand is the story behind the story that compels us to be Difference Makers at BridgePointe.

Beyond Belief

  

There is a story told of a famous French tightrope-walker named Charles Blondin.  Blondin's greatest fame came in June of 1859 when he attempted to become the first person to cross a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile across the mighty Niagara Falls.  He walked across 160 feet above the falls several times, each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!  On one occasion a large crowd gathered and a buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank.  The crowd “oohed” and “aahed” as Blondin carefully walked across one dangerous step after another - blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow.  Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls!  Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience:

"Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"

The crowd enthusiastically shouted, "Yes, yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything!” "Okay," said Blondin, "Then get in the wheelbarrow."  There were no takers.  You see, there is a difference between belief and faith.  Belief may be a conviction of something of which you are certain.  But until you act on it, faith has not been demonstrated.

For the last 2-3 weeks the Advisors and Lead Team has been in discussions about going to one service on Sundays.  Our attendance has decreased and we are well aware of how that hampers the dynamic in an auditorium that seats almost 1000.  We also know that going to one service would allow us to set up an hour later in the morning.  That’s helpful when volunteers are showing up at 6:30 AM to set up when it’s dark and cold.  But making such a change would come at a price.  Our children’s volunteers would not have a service to attend if they were serving on that day.  We also have just launched a BASICS class that meets during first service, allowing participants access to the childrens’ programs and then attendance of the second service.  BASICS, a workshop for new believers, is important to our Growth Path at BridgePointe.  And at the end of the day, lets face it - It would be an additional downer to our present challenges.

I got what I needed to make a decision this past week.  There was an affirmed and profound belief in what we are doing at BridgePointe through the Advisors, Lead Staff, and the leadership community of volunteers with which I am privileged to serve.  BridgePointe is fortunate with spiritual leaders who believe in what God is doing in and through BridgePointe.  I am one of them!  In tangible ways, I saw our team of leaders willing to put their belief into action.  By staying with two services, I am affirming my faith in who we are, what we are doing, the resiliency of our people, the faithfulness of our volunteers, the lives that continue to be changed, the unity of our leaders, and the greatness of our God.  My faith is greater than my fear of our present attendance.  Risky?  Yup!  Am I scared?  Well, it would not be courage if I wasn’t.

It is time to move beyond belief… to faith.  If you believe in what God is doing in and through BridgePointe, I invite you to act on it and get into the wheelbarrow with us.  I am all in!