I'm about to lose control...

If you were to ask friends I had in high school and in the Army whether I would be serving God as I am in full time ministry, they'd probably say that there is no way that greg’s life could be or will be dedicated to the Lord. If you would have asked Jesus, though, He might have said that through Yahweh, greg’s life can’t help but BE changed – dedicated and set apart for the purposes of God.

2 different perspectives on the same life. However, once someone is touched by God, introduced to Jesus, and brought up short by his/her own sin and insufficient eternal significance, there can't help but be life change. No matter if there is a dramatic change or a gradual change experienced by the one who perhaps grew up with Jesus and never left Him - there is always a life change with Jesus.

The Bible says: Jesus is THE living Stone and we are like living stones that make up the church.
[I Peter 2:4-5] As you come to Him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, each changed life collects into a church - like here at Central Community.

In Revelations 2-3, Jesus speaks to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea: "I know your works." The "your" used in the phrase seems singular - like Jesus could be talking to a person as well as a church. Jesus says that about each of us as He says this about our church - about Central Community Church: I KNOW YOUR WORKS. He knows all of us: every leader, every member, every child, every soul.

So, if it is true that individually "God loves us the way we are, but too much to let us stay that way", wouldn't it be also true that He feels the same about the church? While He expects that His followers will demonstrate their allegiance to Him through the bearing of spiritual fruit (like Love, Joy, Peace, etc. from Gal. 5:22-23), could He also expect this from His bride, the church.

If Jesus described His expectations of the church as He would an individual, then can we expect a life change of this church as we can of its living stones? If we can expect this life change at Central Community, then what is our sense of urgency? What is at stake? And, what can we do about it?

Many have already heard some of Pastor John’s statements of the future – the vision God gave him. The Sr. Staff is working through the month of April to identify what needs to be done in order to get there. Things needed in 2008, 2009, and beyond. In order to seek the life change for this church (and the living stones of which it is comprised), there will likely be great change we must experience. What those things are, we don’t yet know. So, I'm praying that God will lead us with His wisdom and that we will not fear change but reserve our fear for the Lord most high. We will not be uncertain, but be certain in what God has promised us – that what He has spoken, He will fulfill. And, we will not doubt, but will stand resolute in faith knowing He has called us here – set us apart – to do something profound: to be an instrument of change in greater Wichita and throughout the world.

In the famous words of the Pointer sisters, "I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!" Losing control, of course, to the One who remains in charge of my life and the life of this church we call Central Community.