An Incredible Fishing Spot

    I got this photo in an email yesterday from a friend and I found it to be quite amazing. More people living in that little circle than living outside of the circle. Within that circle is China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and a host of other Asian countries.

    What grabbed me was that three of our young adults are now serving in this circle. We seem to be gaining more and more connections with people from and in this circle all the time. Chinese students who come to the US to study have found a church home at CrossPoint. The Lord seems to be developing a heart for the people of this circle in our community of faith.

    Take it another step. I'd like to see an overlay map of Christianity. My hunch is that this region might be the least impacted by the Gospel. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:15-16, "We hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working."

    I'm NOT a fisherman. But I'm not dumb either. If I want to go catch fish I go to where there are the most fish. In one sense we go to this region of the world we are fishing for the souls of people in one of the most populated fishing holes in the history of mankind1

The Gospel is a Powerful Path

This morning I read an article entitled “8 Evangelism Lessons From a Former Lesbian.”  It’s a review of a video interview of Dr Rosaria Butterfield who was a tenured professor at Syracuse University (which is probably why I was more attracted to the article). She tells the story of how God reached her through a Presbyterian pastor and his church there is Syracuse, NY. The eight lessons that the writer of the article distills from the one hour interview are the real spiritual weapons that we need to rescue people from darkness. I really encourage you to take the time to read and assimilate the means that God uses to call people to Himself. CLICK HERE to go to the web site for the article.

What gives Dr Butterfield her notoriety is a book she wrote that is getting very good press entitled, “Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith”

But this posting is about another comment that Dr Butterfield makes that caught my attention. I watched the interview because the article so intrigued me. The video can be viewed on YouTube by CLICKING HERE.

The context of this comment is important. In the book she talks about how the first time she went to the Pastor’s home they didn’t follow the script. She was nervous about going and getting “the Gospel” in four phrases and then being asked to go to church. The pastor and his wife did neither. That was attractive to her. They didn’t have an agenda. They displayed genuine care and were interested in her. She found that then something she didn’t expect to find out about The Gospel.

“The Gospel is not just a set of ideas or a set of words. It is a powerful path by which God calls people to Himself and redeems us and heals us. “

“The Gospel is a powerful path!” That statement really resonates with me. I see that it resonates with many scriptures as well …

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16 (ESV)

Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.  
1 Thessalonians 1:5 (ESV)

How often we evangelize on the premise that if we’ve given the words and ideas of the Gospel then we’ve done our job. But this refined notion of what constitutes the Gospel tells us that the true proclamation of the Gospel consists of life, love and the power of the Holy Spirit, all on display through our lives.