Don't come alone

I really can't believe it's been 7 months since I've blogged...amazing how time flies.

Over these last 7 months I've had so many ups and only a few downs (but those few have nearly been disastrous) that I feel as if I'm five times wiser and five years older at the same time.

All of this is good, though. God has meant every little bit of this for good (Genesis 50:20). God has been filling holes in my life left and right.  It is funny how many blind spots I realized I had (I still have more that need to be pointed out, I'm sure).  It's also ironic how the people who point out those shortcomings have two things going for them: 1) They are the closest to you and 2) They can tick you off faster than anyone else.

As I said, it's all for good.

One of the biggest blind spots I know I have fixed is something I believe most of the churches in our area need to fix.  I had an issue with thinking that I or the adult leaders within the student ministry were solely responsible for ushering more students into the church from our community and schools.  All the while I overlooked the natural, promotion-generating group of students that we had coming all the time.

I wanted to get students to connect to FPC (and then hopefully to Jesus) so they could grow in their faith and then continue the cycle of reaching their friends but adults can't do it all.  We can't go to every sporting event, every lunch and band, rotc or cheerleading competition, but our collection of students CAN!

One night it hit me! At the last church I served, I bent myself backwards trying to keep as many relationships with as many students as I possibly could.  I maxed out at around 20-25 with no adult leaders to help me.  Here at Forest Park I have 17 (yes seventeen) adult leaders.  So I did a little a math.  If 25 is my max then I need to restructure some things in order to reach 100+ students in Elizabeth City.  (By the way, we ain't stopping at 100! There's well over 4,000 students in this area!)

My main focus must be on those 17 adult leaders and 6-8 students.  Those 25 people should get the vision from me that I can't do this alone, I need them, FPC needs them!  The lives of literally thousands of students hang in the balance!

If those 25 resound that message to just 5 other students then we could experience explosive growth!

So this is how it looks TJ inspires -> Adult & Student leaders (25) inspires -> our active students (75) who reach out to -> unreached students (4,000)

This is the only way I can see Elizabeth City's students being reached effectively across the board. Got a better way that I'm missing PLEASE TELL ME:)

So, if you're one of the 25 or 75, listen to me...YOU ARE INDISPENSABLE! We need you to help us reach outside the walls of FPC. Don't you know that God & the angels have a party every time someone puts their faith in Jesus? (Luke 15:7) Make that happen more often because God likes to party, too:)

This is what real Christ-followers do, they reach out! It's not about us, it's about them and giving God the glory for it!  When you hear, "don't come alone" that means you're up. You students are in all the places that adults can't go to all the time, YOU'RE THERE!

Do you really think we have Sunday Sports, the JumpOFF and THE BRINK only for students who are already Christians?

Prove your faith, what have you REALLY got to lose? They have everything to gain if they come to Christ!  You students hold the power. I may be the Student Pastor but I can't do much without you!

Do what you gotta do to spread the love of Christ, bring them into our family and we'll do our best to present Jesus in the clearest, most honest and biblical way we possibly can.

So in the future, in whatever you come to, no matter how often, DON'T COME ALONE!

-tj