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Is It Worth It?

by Doug Gregg
Pastor - Lifepoint Baptist Church, Owasso, Oklahoma

If you endeavor to reach your city for Christ, you will no doubt experience some interesting situations. Several years ago I was in Norman, Oklahoma, on a Saturday morning doing some bus ministry visitation. A college student and I walked up to knock on the door and talk to the family and invite the 3 kids to ride the bus. As we walked up the steps we noticed a big, mean junkyard dog laying on the front porch. In about 2 seconds he went from a mean growl to chasing us. We jumped off the porch and ran for our lives. The college student that was with me ran so fast while looking behind him, he ran right smack into the side of the church van. I decided I would take the self-defense approach and shuffle my feet backwards while facing the dog. He got about 5 feet from me and lunged toward my chest. You know one of those jumps you see on animal planet when a predator has found its prey? I’m thinking well this is it, my obituary is about to read “MBSF Director dies after being mauled by dog while on bus ministry visitation.” Just at the moment when he was about a foot from me his chain jerked him back. That was one of the scariest 15 seconds of my life.

Reaching your community for Jesus is hard. You may find yourself in uncomfortable situations — talking to people you barely know. You may also find yourself in some strange, humorous, and yes even some dangerous situations.

So, is it worth it? Of course it is. Beyond the dog on that front porch there was a door. Behind that door were 3 kids whose father was in prison and they didn’t have many people in their lives that cared about them. The kids, individuals, and families in our communities have to matter to us. We know they matter to God. Sometimes I wonder if the reason we’re not doing a better job reaching our community is that we don’t really care. We’re not broken. We’re not burdened. We don’t see the value in the lives God has called us to reach.

In Nehemiah chapter one we see one man’s burden for one city. When he received information about Jerusalem, it broke his heart. God used information about the people in that city to radically burden his heart. Guess what he does? He prays. The rest of the chapter is about Nehemiah talking to God about this city. Then God opens an opportunity for him to do something. His burden translates to action.

Do you love your city? Do you have a burden, a desire to see the people in your city come to faith in Christ? If you do, do your actions show it? Does your city know?

There is a tool that has been designed by Bogard Press called, The Jerusalem Priority. It is an outreach curriculum designed with the purpose of helping equip and motivate churches to reach their “Jerusalem.” To encourage churches to let their city know in a big way that they love their city and want friends, neighbors, coworkers, families to find new life in Christ.

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Our Jerusalem

by Brent Summerhill
Pastor - Faith MBC, Cabot, Arkansas

“Do you see this arm?” he asked.

We were just a group of teens knocking on doors and looking for kids who might need a bus ride to church. The apartment complex on Jenny Lind road in Fort Smith seemed like a good spot to stop. People were milling about and children were playing.

Peering through the screen door, we could see him sitting alone in the darkness. Knocking, we were invited into his home. There was a harshness to his appearance and a sadness in his voice. One could quickly sense that more than being alone, he had been lonely a long time.

“What do you kids want?” he demanded. We quickly tried to explain who we were and what we were doing. We told him about our church and offered him a tract.

“You kids keep it up cause there’s a lot of people out there that need saving,” he replied. But for himself he said, “Do you see this arm? I saved myself with it in war and I’ll have to save myself with it now. No one can do anything for me.”

The truth is that someone already had done something for him. How sadthat he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it.

We could philosophize about why this man and others like him are in such a condition. We could blame social ills or their past experiences or their own bull headedness. Then, with our reasoning intact, we could rationalize that there’s nothing that can be done and excuse ourselves from trying.

But something has been done. The apostle Paul told Timothy, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

The lonely old man in the dark apartment. The co-worker who can’t keep a husband. The neighbor caught in the trap of addiction. The friend at school always dressed in black and bedecked in chains. The troubled relative who just doesn’t fit in with the family. All are sinners just like you and me. And Christ came to save them even as He came to save us.
Having shown them His nail-scarred hands and spear-pierced side, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Thus they were commissioned to be His hands and His feet bearing the saving message of His cross to a lost and dying world. No sinner was to be shunned, no soul was to be avoided, but the gospel was to be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15).

The church’s mission has not changed in two thousand years. We are still His hands and His feet bearing His message not merely to a faceless throng, but to the desperate and dying one in need of the touch of God.
That’s what “Jerusalem Priority – Friends Reaching Friends” is all about. It’s a reminder of our mission. It’s a means to stir us anew with genuine compassion to befriend the friendless in the name of Christ. It’s an opportunity to introduce that lost and dying friend to the Friend, Jesus, who came to save them from their sin.

I never knew what became of the old man in the apartment. But I do know there are multitudes like him around us every day. Each of our communities are filled with those lost and dying in their sins. Join us this year as we reach out to our Jerusalem with the friendship of Christ.

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Confessions of an Un-evangelistic Pastor

by Noah D. Lee
Pastor - Longview MBC

In the church I pastor, there is a dear man who always prays, “Lord, forgive us of sins of omission.” I’m ashamed to confess my sin of omission is often evangelism. I’ve identified three reasons why evangelism is often omitted from my life.

#1. I Don’t Have the Gift of Evangelism

After the last Pastors and Missionaries Conference in Texarkana, I was blessed to drive my friend and West Virginia church planter Jason Sheffstall back to east Texas so he could speak in our church. Stopping at a restaurant for a drink, Jason struck up a conversation with the young lady delivering our sodas. Before I knew it, he had turned the conversation to the gospel. Jason was able to clearly, comfortably, and convincingly share the gospel in just a few moments. I was amazed at how easily Jason turned the conversation to the Gospel. I’ve tried to do the same but it always feels awkward and artificial. From my perspective evangelism comes easily for some people, but for me evangelism is difficult. And like many difficult things, I tend to neglect it.

#2. It’s Not Urgent

I have many urgent tasks to do each week. Sunday sermons, hospital visits, counseling sessions, committee meetings, writing a weekly newsletter article and other things must all be done. There are deadlines for them. Urgency demands I complete these tasks. When it comes to evangelism, there are no deadlines on the calendar. So it gets pushed to the back burner and is often left undone.

#3. I’m Not Accountable

Spending time with my family is a high priority, even though there is not a “deadline” to meet. Because they rightfully expect me to spend quality time with them, I am held accountable. When it comes to evangelism, it’s improbable anyone will ask me if I shared the gospel today. Because I’m not accountable, I often forget it.

Three Answers

The answers to my problems are found in Scripture. First, I want to use the excuse “I’m not a gifted evangelist.” But Paul says to me through Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).” It doesn’t really matter if I feel like doing it or not. It doesn’t matter if I think I am good or natural at it. The bottom line is God commands me to do the work of an evangelist. It is a question of obedience.

Second, while evangelism may not feel as urgent as preparing a sermon, in truth, it is the most urgent task I have. All people are appointed once to die and then face the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The people around me are eternal souls who will face eternal hell without Christ. Evangelism is urgent for the people I meet because they urgently and desperately need Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Third, the Bible is clear that I will be held accountable. Matthew 25 reveals I am a steward of the Gospel and accountable for that stewardship. And Ezekiel 33:8 tells me that if I don’t do my part in warning the lost, God will charge their blood to me.

The Jerusalem Priority: A Tool to Help

I believe many church members are like me. They know they should evangelize, but they don’t feel particularly gifted to be a witness, or they don’t sense the urgency or responsibility to evangelize. This is why I am excited about The Jerusalem Priority being developed by Bogard Press. For one month, it focuses the attention of the entire church on evangelism. Sermons, Bible lessons, community impact ideas, promotion material, and a specially designed tract all combine to equip and encourage every church member to faithfully share the gospel.

We know we need to reach the world with the gospel. The Lord has placed our churches in the communities we are in to reach our neighbors with the gospel. Let’s be faithful to make our Jerusalems—the neighborhood, community, and city we live in—a priority.

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by Steve Butler
Associate Pastor - Calvary BC, Henderson, Texas

What could be more Biblical than reaching out in your Jerusalem with the same intensity as you reach for “Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth?” The pastor that reached my dad, mom, sister and myself practiced this balanced principle and began the blessings that I have enjoyed for more than 50 years.

My sister and I were invited to Vacation Bible School (Jerusalem – Pine Bluff, Arkansas) and heard about Jesus. I was barely five years old. My teachers had sons in that class which became my closest friends through high school. Funny how it works that way.

Mom was baptized not long after VBS and Dad moved his letter from Bodcaw. Four years later at Bogg Springs (maybe the first year camp was held) I was saved with my sister following a few years later. The fact is, I am a Jerusalem Priority. My life was changed because I was reached by a church reaching into its community, its Jerusalem. At the same time Olive Street MBC, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, was highly involved in missions (I still remember the missionary slides) even planting a church on the other side of town and supporting the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock.

Ten years later God called me to His service, back at Bogg Springs where I attended twice every summer. After attending college I was led to become a staff member at Calvary Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas and a faculty member of Texas Baptist Institute where I received Master and Doctor of Theology Diplomas. I am in my thirty-first year at Calvary and TBI. All of these blessings in my life are because Mrs. Walter Reed, our neighbor in Pine Bluff and faithful Olive Street member, understood her “Jerusalem Priority” was to invite the kids living on her block to VBS and church.

I have served on the Baptist Sunday School Committee for twenty-five years and enjoyed seeing many publications accomplished and new programs designed. None is more exciting or contains more potential for reaching other “Steve Butlers” than “The Jerusalem Priority.”

“The Jerusalem Priority” will be a comprehensive outreach program planned for October 2008 to help churches reach out in their Jerusalem. A step by step leader’s guide will be prepared by my pastor, Bill Kuykendall, and myself. This material will contain Sunday School lessons that may be used, sermon suggestions, community outreach ideas and training materials for each component. Workshops will be held to present materials and equip church leaders to use the materials in their Jerusalem. Others involved in the preparation of these materials are: Noah Lee, Paul Roberts, Steve Reeves, Charlie Ellison, Doug Gregg, Chad Thompson, Brent Summerhill, Mike Silvey and Larry Clements.

There is one more aspect of how “The Jerusalem Priority” has worked in my life. I was invited to VBS. I did attend camp at Bogg Springs. The person who finally led me to seek salvation was a flute playing Japanese missionary who was attending seminary and went to Bogg Springs the same year I attended. He shared his testimony each evening and on Thursday evening looked at me and said “You really need Jesus.” I became His “Jerusalem Priority” that evening.

What will you and your church do with “The Jerusalem Priority?” Please consider using it to reach into your community. October of 2008 could be the greatest year of reaching your church’s Jerusalem. Check the ABA web-site for details and be ready to initiate “The Jerusalem Priority” in your personal Jerusalem.