February 8, 2004 - Dr. Stephen Lien, "Hot Spot to the Future"

Jeremiah 29:11

Dear friends in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Before I read our scripture lesson today, I'd like to give a context and background for it. It's about a year ago that Session adopted our plan "Into the Future." I preached three sermons on what it meant to get out of the boat, onto our knees and move into the future. Remember? Getting out of the boat of our comfort zone and the known and the familiar. We gave everyone a little paper origami boat as a reminder. The next week we talked about the posture of Christian people getting onto our knees, and we made almost four hundred wooden prayer stools -- remember? (I hope you're using them. I've certainly have been using mine in the past year!) In the third week we talked about moving into the future and we quoted the verse that I'm going to quote again for you today, from Jeremiah 29, verse 11.

Perhaps you know Jeremiah as a bullfrog! Jeremiah was also a prophet in the Old Testament, a preacher. The prophets were oftentimes the people that God called to wag their finger at the congregation because they were saying, "Return to the Lord, remember the Covenant, amend your ways, rend your hearts and not just your garments, be the true people of God, remember the Covenant."

Jeremiah was only twenty years old when he was called to be a prophet of God. It was a job that prophets often paid for with their lives, but he nevertheless was bold in the face of some persecutions to declare the wonderful truth of God's love for God's people. All throughout the book of Jeremiah there is a throbbing and aching heart of a Covenant God, desiring this relationship with God's people.

Last year I quoted this verse of scripture, a verse that has been really important to me from my college days. When the way was unclear ahead of me, when I was doubting or insecure or feeling threatened or fearful, or when I wasn't sure whether God liked me or not, Jeremiah 29 became a verse that touched my heart.

Last year we ended that sermon "Into the Future" with a series of ellipses: "dot, dot, dot." Today I want to put an exclamation mark there, because we're going to talk about the future. We're going to focus our thoughts on these words of Jeremiah -- Jeremiah 29:11. I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

But I'd forgotten, or never really noticed, the verses that followed . . . forgotten that seeking God's face, intention, will and vision . . . pursuing the future God has planned, often requires work, sweat, tears . . . fervent prayer - a learning to trust . . . in new ways . . . learning to abandon, even renounce my own wisdom and understanding, admit my weaknesses and blind spots . . .

The verses that follow say:

Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart. . . .

Let us pray: God, we pray that you give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to respond, that you give us audacious dreams, that you give us the fire of your holy spirit, excitement, joy, enthusiasm, and passion. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

I have to tell you that in these last months, I have really worked on that verse of scripture. I've thought and I've prayed and I've struggled. It's easy for me to memorize that first verse:

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

But I had never really noticed or struggled with the verses that came after, to tell you the truth. These verses:

Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me if you seek me with all your heart.

That's hard for me. I think it's hard for all of us. To seek God with our whole hearts.

These last months, I've sought the Lord with all my heart - sometimes desperately. Sometimes I don't go to my knees unless they buckle! Maybe that is true of you, too. I've been on my knees before the Lord and sought the Lord, and over these last months I've talked to dozens of people, and I've prayed and searched the scriptures. I've tried to immerse myself in the history, the culture, the ethos, the norms, and the values of this congregation and the Westside of Los Angeles where we live. The vision is crystallizing -- and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

I want to tell you about that vision and as I do so, I want to tell you about the title of my sermon, "Hot Spot to the Future."

It came to me when I was sitting at Starbucks, down the street, that has a T-Mobile wi-fi "hot spot." For those of you who don't know what that is, that's 'wireless fidelity.' My tiny new little laptop has a wireless Internet card in it. You can sit there with your brew of the day on the table, flip your laptop on, launch your Internet browser, and you are all over the world in nano-seconds! All over the world, at Starbucks! I can log on, I can check my e-mails, I can work on documents that are on the network at BPC. You can talk to people around the world. I love it!

The impression came to me so unmistakably, that where we are as a church, who we are as God's people, we are literally a hot spot, like no other, like no other on the whole planet. We are a hot spot! We are so wired, and we're so full of resources and people and energy and passion. God has positioned us on this corner, in this place, in the Westside of Los Angeles, and it's the world that God wants us to reach. We are a hot spot to the whole world . . . and we're a hot spot to the future . . . the very place that God has plans for us, plans for welfare and not for evil to give us a future and a hope.

Those plans are God's vision for Brentwood Presbyterian Church.

According to George Barna, those plans result in a vision which is:

"foresight with insight based on hindsight . . ."
"an informed bridge from the present to the future . . ."
"applied, pragmatic imagination . . . "
"an intention to do something significant and unique"
"to create a new reality that improves upon that which exists today."
(George Barna, The Power of Vision, p. 32)

And do you know what vision is in my vernacular? Vision is sanctified dreams. I've got tons of them! Sanctified dreams that I believe God has given. Before we move forward, we need to understand some other things about vision.

Vision is change-oriented. Science has taught us that every living entity is constantly changing. Scientists have even agreed upon a term to describe those entities that are not undergoing constant change. That term is "dead." Likewise, a ministry that aims for something other than change invites euthanasia. [Make no mistake about it: change and] Risk [are] a natural and unavoidable outgrowth of vision. In a church pursuing God's vision, there is a premium placed upon new ideas and new approaches. Creative thoughts and interesting perspectives are not only tolerated and accepted, but are expected and celebrated. (Barna, p. 113)

So let me tell you about this vision by stating it as clearly and succinctly as I can. It's a vision that's going to need lots of elaboration, fleshing out, percolating, prayer, hard work and collaborative hard work, and lots of blood, sweat and tears! The language isn't perfect.

My Vision for BPC is to welcome most often disinterested, secular people from the Westside of Los Angeles to a dynamic Christian faith community, into a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and together to change the world for the better.

Now let me tell you some things about these disinterested, secular people from the Westside of Los Angeles, with the clear understanding that it's never us and them, only we. There are some particulars about these people that I believe we are called to reach. Our mission field, if you will, is at our door step. First of all, I did a demographic study in the 7.5-mile radius of this corner of San Vicente and Bundy, roughly a twenty minute commute to our door. The population is 1,175,000 at present - projected to grow by 5% in next five years. We've got demographic studies and know everything about these people; we even know what they did last summer! But this pool is perhaps too big for us to look at. Let's look more closely at the pond in which we live. I've done some work on our zip code of 90049. Some people may not think it's as sexy as 90210 of television fame, but I think it's far more fascinating, interesting, and far, far more challenging.

Let me tell you about this zip code 90049.

-- Population: 34,000 people.
-- Average age: 44.
-- Percent of single parent households: 16%
-- Largest Lifestyle Group: Affluent Families - 49%
-- Largest Racial Group: Anglos at 85%. Do you know who the fastest growing population group is going to be in the next five years? Asians.
-- Largest Generational Group: Boomers (40-59) at 33%
-- Educational Level: Extremely high - of those people in 90049 that are 25 years and older, 61% of them have a college degree or more (compared to 20% nationally).
-- Primary Community/Social Issues: Social Injustice, Finding Life Direction, Racial/Ethnic Prejudice, Finding Companionship, and Finding Time for Recreation and Leisure.

Do you know what the average household income is in our zip code? $173,000
And let me give you another startling statistic: of the of the 33-34,000 people that live in our zip code, 51% have no faith involvement -- none. Another 24% have only some faith involvement. That adds up to 75% of the 34,000 people who live in our neighborhood, on our doorstep, have little or no faith involvement. If you take even the most conservative, 51% have no faith involvement, which is over 17,000 people in our pond, in our backyard. These are people who we live and work with, who play in our neighborhood and our backyard and many don't know Jesus - most have never been to Brentwood Presbyterian Church, and some, believe it or not, have never even heard of us! That's about to change.

Let me give you some softer thoughts about these people. . . a conglomeration of ideas, conclusions, readings from people like George Barna, Bill Easum and Tom Bandy, some from Barbara Brown Taylor, Leonard Sweet, Lee Strobel, and anyone else I could get my hands on . . .

-- These are people who have oftentimes rejected church, but that doesn't necessarily mean they has rejected God.
-- They are morally adrift, but they secretly want an anchor.
-- They resist rules, but they respond to reasons.
-- They don't understand Christianity, but they're also ignorant about what they claim to believe in.
-- They've got legitimate questions about spiritual matters, but they don't expect answers from Christians.
-- They don't just ask, "Is Christianity true?" Often, they're asking, "Does Christianity work?"
-- They don't just want to know something; they want to experience it.
-- They don't want to be somebody's project, but they would like to be somebody's friend.
-- They may distrust authority, but they're receptive to authentic biblical leadership.
-- They're no longer loyal to denominations, but are attracted to places where their needs will be met.
-- They aren't much of a joiner, but they're hungry for a cause they can connect with.
-- They may not be spiritually sensitive, but they want their children to get quality moral training.
-- They are proud that they're tolerant of different faiths, but they think Christians are narrow-minded.
-- They might try church, in fact most statistics show that they would try church if a friend invited them, but this may actually do them more harm than good.
(Excerpts taken from Inside the Minds of Unchurched Harry and Mary, Lee Strobel, Zondervan)

They're intellectually astute, discriminating, skeptical, sometimes cynical. They're looking for verifiable proof that Christianity is true. Some were raised in Christian homes and they feel that God has gone AWOL. An adolescent understanding of faith does not hold water when you're an adult and living in a difficult and challenging world. Some of them are people who have let the idea of God go as easily as an old pair of shoes.

They're people who never expected much in the first place, who are so used to being let down by parents, by friends, and life, that discarding their hopes came as naturally to them as breathing. They learned early on that belief is nothing but a shortcut to disappointment, so they saved themselves the trouble, retiring belief in God along with belief in Santa Claus, Lady Luck, and the Tooth Fairy. (page 9)

Some of them, beneath a thin veneer of self-sufficiency, live lives of quiet desperation.
Others are so busily self-absorbed in the pursuit of careers and love and security they have no conscious need of anything. Many of them are people who sense that their lives have begun to spring leaks, and they are full of fear. For them life is spinning out of control and they are looking for handles. They want to know what's right and what's wrong; how to live an honorable life and avoid trouble. They want to know how to get on God's good side and stay there. (Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, p. 20)

They are people who claim to have left the church behind, along with dragons and maps of a flat earth, but their hearts have continued to hunt for their true home. And they do it by seeking out crystals and past-life readings, or channeling and mysticism, new ageism, rolfing and raeke, astrology and psychic readings, serial monogamy and psycho-therapy. The search is endless.

You and I know these people. They live in our neighborhood, work in the next cubicle, maybe they share our bed. Maybe they are us! We love them and care for them. Sometimes we ache for them, but we hardly know how to help them. But we're going to learn how! We're going to create, invent, if you will, and populate a church that the world has never known. I have no doubt about it. A dynamic, focused, gracious, grace-filled group of Christians from all walks of life and all political and theological persuasions that is free of the narrowness and bigotry and fundamentalism that has often characterized the Christian church. A church that is riotously diverse!

My vision is that we will welcome disinterested, secular people from the Westside of Los Angeles to a dynamic Christian faith community, a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and together to change the world for the better.

And here's how we're going to do it. We have all the makings, because they are imbedded in the DNA of who we are in our Vision and in our Mission and in our Core Values. They're absolutely perfect for the mission to which God has called us!

We're going to do it by celebrating the ministries of our mission statement (Welcoming, Celebrating, Nurturing and Serving), and here's just a little sampling of ideas:

When we talk about welcoming, we ain't' seen nothing yet! We say we're welcoming but it's not always the case. How about putting greeters on the median, in the parking lots, on the patio and in the pews, greeters intentionally reaching out and sharing their name and making people feel welcome. Do you know how terror-filled people are to come to church? We have no clue because we've been here. They've never seen pews; they've never seen stained glass; they don't know the hocus-pocus stuff that religious people do. Had you ever heard the word narthex before you came to church? Do you know what a prelude is? It's a Honda. Have you ever gotten a bulletin? Rarely. I defy you to tell me where the sanctuary is, and what is a sanctuary? Can you find the nursery, if you've got a two-year-old in tow, when you come up out of that parking lot? Try to find the bathroom! It's true, and that's the first thing that a visitor looks for. Try to find the church office or find the classroom for your kids.

We've got to develop a sensitivity to people who are not initiated. We've got to be careful and intentional and tenderhearted and loving and gracious, because the church exists not just for the sake of those who are here. It exists for those who aren't here, and we have to get over the mentality that the Christian church has held far too long -- that we are a holy huddle, sharing precious promises. We've got to move out into the world. We can be the most astonishingly welcoming, loving, accepting group of people the world has ever seen because it's one of our core values, to be welcoming and inclusive. You can come here and you can be Republican or Democrat, filthy rich or on the unemployment lines. You can be gay or straight or anything in between. You can be left or right, arch conservative or flaming liberal, white-collar or blue-collar, Westside or Eastside, black or white, Asian or Hispanic, atheist or agnostic, skeptic or apathetic.

I'll never forget one of the best examples of this kind of inclusiveness that I've ever seen, and my friends back in Iowa just can't quite believe it.

Joanne and I were on vacation and I talked to someone that has heard a lot about Brentwood Presbyterian Church but has never been here. She had this idea that BPC is sort of this little chichi church in a nice, pricey little neighborhood in Brentwood.

And I said, "You don't have a clue. You can't tell who has got money and who hasn't, or who's Democrat and who's Republican, because we all mix in together. I'm greeting some people at the door and I'm shaking the hands of some women who need help holding up their diamond rings and hugging people who don't have a dime in their pockets. I'm greeting people and they're rich and poor, black and white, and young and old and all of this kind of thing. And I'm just celebrating this kind of diversity, and while I'm doing that, a homeless man in army fatigues is crouched down right behind me in the corner smoking a joint, and people are coming by and I'm just celebrating this dude there right behind me, and Joanne, my wife, comes out and she plants a kiss on my cheek. He jumps up and plants one on my other cheek! And then he crouches back down and he finishes his joint." I think -- isn't this incredible! Where do you go to find this kind of community? You won't find it at the L.A. Country Club or the Riviera Country Club or at the beach clubs, but you do find it here because we're different. Because we belong to God.

We're going to do this welcoming business with the disinterested, secular Westside people of Los Angeles. To invite them into a dynamic Christian faith community, into a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and together to change the world for the better.

We're going to do it by the way we celebrate. Bar none, we're going to be the best. More and more Spirit-filled, dynamic, innovative worship with the best music possible, with a distinctive variety of styles that provide the options that the people of the 21st century demand. We've got to provide some distinctive worship choices, not only time-wise, but worship that is meditative, contemplative, mystical, contemporary, traditional, or blended. We need to have all of them engaging, some that are multi-sensory, appealing to our minds and our hearts and our souls - seeking innovative ways to present the Gospel.

The Gospel is unchanged; the way it is presented has to change. We don't speak in Greek and Hebrew anymore. We don't speak in Latin. We don't speak in King James English anymore. How many of you were married and had to say, "I plight thee my troth"?! We have to translate the Gospel into the idiom of disinterested secular people from the Westside so that they'll hear what we're saying.

We need to have worship celebrations at a variety of times, maybe even a variety of places. Can we do a video feed to Fellowship Hall? Can we rent space from the Wadsworth Theater on Veteran's Administration property? Let's think outside the box. If we're called to those 17,000 people that have no faith involvement and they live in our pond, what do we need to be doing? We need to be thinking strategically about designing and doing demographic studies of our particular target audience. We need to use all our senses including drama and mime and dance troop, all in the praise of God.

And we are going to reach these people by the incredible nurture that we already do, but we're going to build on our School of Christian Learning. We're going to do an academy for all comers on the Westside, thousands of people each year in a multi-faceted curricula that addresses everything from toddler tactics to symposiums on science and religion -- practical marriage, parenting, relationships, spiritual life retreats, ancient spiritual disciplines, spiritual direction. We're going to be a Christian think tank: relevant, engaging, authentic, grounded, socially relevant and Biblical literate. There's an idea! Everything from every part of the spectrum--left, right, middle; conservative, liberal; comprehensive Bible study: theology, apologetics, world religions, tapping into the phenomenal resources of the Westside. Inviting not only theologians but practitioners, and front-line contenders . . . equipping us to serve Christ in the home, the halls of commerce and halls of state -- around the globe, and in our back yard!

We're going to have not dozens of small groups; we're going to have hundreds! Support, education, accountability, grief, parenting, and Bible study. We're probably going to have to consider an additional day of week to do all this! Think of it. Sunday mornings when Sunday School was invented two hundred years ago, parents had their kids fifty-two weeks of the year. Think again: 21st Century, blended families, non-custodial parents, at best every other week, that's twenty-six weeks. You add in soccer, vacation, times away, holidays, we don't have them at all any more. And if we think that we're going to convey to the next generation the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a half a dozen or a dozen hours a year, we're wrong. If we're putting all our eggs in the basket of talking to these kids who have one hour a week in Sunday School and thirty-nine hours a week in front of the television, we're all wrong. We've got to do it with the parents. We've got to make life-changing decisions as parents and then we do our job to convey that to our children. Not to our volunteer Sunday School staff, thinking that we can do it in fifty or sixty minutes a week.

The most exciting thing about this vision is our serving. Disinterested, secular people don't want to just hear our theology; they want to see it in action. They want to see something happening, and we do it, under Serve. And we're going to do more and more of it. It's one of the most exciting things that we do to help people get on board and get involved, inviting them to serve. There are so many people who first time will never come to church to worship, but they'll roll up their sleeves and go to Mexico, just like that. They'll go to Ecuador, Nicaragua, or Malawi, Africa. They'll go to the far corners of the earth and they'll do it along with us who are doing it in the name of Jesus, and they'll be so impressed that it will bless their socks off!

We need to put our money where our mouth is. When we say in this congregation that everyone is a minister, then we ought to require it. From our Sunday School kids to our senior adults, to ask everyone who joins, "And where are you going to serve? Where are you going to minister?" because that's what we do around here. Not just three or four trips to Mexico a year . . . how about one a month? And not just to Mexico, but let's do Malawi and Nicaragua, and South America, and skid row in South Central Los Angeles and Watts . . . and Hollywood and Santa Monica…and the homeless and illiterate . . . the abused, the orphaned, the lost and forgotten . . . the drug addicted . . . those afflicted by HIV and AIDS . . . the oppressed, those without a voice . . . to provide opportunities, to get involved in political activism, to address systemic social, political and environmental disasters.

This vision is big, hairy and audacious enough for everyone to find a place in it. I really believe it. Everyone, everyone involved and passionate--with the fire in the belly ignited by the Holy Spirit. The needs and the possibilities are endless, and so too are the people and resources needed! I think we should double our budget and give half of it away. Do you know that in the average mainline Protestant church, a few years ago, the average parishioner gave 1.7% of their income to the church? That's after-tax income, 1.7%. Whatever became of the Biblical goal of the tithe of 10%? We can become our own United Way agency. Give money away, and we can send people to the far corners of the earth, wherever a plane will take us -- partnering and learning and serving and loving together.

What's your passion? How can we together mobilize to do it in the name of Jesus? Our baptisms are our ordinations. You are all ordained. We're all ordained to be servants of Christ. We're set apart to share Christ's ministry. If the church is where we learn who and whose we are, the world is where we are called to put that knowledge to use. (Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, p. 29 and 37)

I read a book many years ago by Ann Kiemel called I Love the Word Impossible. I love the word "impossible," because it calls forth the deepest, the richest, the strongest part of me and all of us that we can muster as people of faith. We've never done anything by faith unless it's impossible by human standards, and we're called to do the impossible.
And I love what Parker Palmer once said: " Just because something is impossible doesn't mean you shouldn't do it." We need to do it.

Make no mistake about it, there are challenges before us. Lots of them. Here are few:

-- Our facilities: They are really aging. Except for our sanctuary, the place is in abysmal shape! The deferred maintenance has gone on and on and on. We have major repairs to do to our roof, and we've got to ask the question, "Is that the best stewardship of our money?" We simply cannot be content with 45 parking spaces. We can't. We moan and groan about it year after year after year. We've got to have a plan to do something about it in short order. We can't do it any more.

-- Our infrastructure needs examination. Our technology is outdated and many of our computers are running Windows '95. Windows '95! They are boat anchors. We can't do it any more.

-- Our staff needs to be equipped to be great coaches . . . experts in their fields . . . to be mentors . . . to be held accountable to BPC mission, vision and values that we've adopted and endorsed . . . and they're in desperate need of not adequate but generous salaries. Hear me well. Not adequate but generous salaries. Many of our people don't have benefits; they don't have pensions. Many of our people are earning barely above minimum wage. It's immoral. It can't go on. We've got to get over the majoring in minors that we do, of who's doing that, and who's initiating this or that, because when we're lost in this huge vision, it does not matter.

-- Money is a big challenge. This vision will require more money, not less. It's going to require a true biblical understanding of stewardship, which means everything we do after we say, "I believe." It's going to require a far deeper, even sacrificial commitment from every one of us. We've only begun. Last year, 2003, was the best year we ever had. Last December was the best December we've ever had. Last month was the best January we've ever had for income, but we've only just begun. Believe me.

-- We're going to look at our organizational structure. Session has adopted a plan that I believe will streamline decision-making and will let people roll up their sleeves and get more immediate access to ministry in this congregation, to have less burnout from serving on too many committees, with an ever greater focus on ministry. We need to free people to not be required to serve for three years and burn out in the process. We need to look at the structure that is less predicated on a bygone culture where people automatically understood and loved, invested in, and cared for the institution of the church.

We need to pursue this vision with everything that's in us, to welcome disinterested, secular people from the Westside of Los Angeles to a dynamic Christian faith community, into a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and together to change the world for the better. And it's going to take every last one of us. This isn't something that begins next week or next month, or next year. It begins today.

What are you going to do about it? Who are you going to invite to church and say, "Can I pick you up?" Who? This week? Are you going to be here every Sunday regardless of whose name is on the marquee? You're not here to worship the preacher. We have an audience of One and we're called to be here every week. And how about your nurture? Where is it going? Is your life of faith any different today than it was five or ten or thirty or forty or fifty years ago? Do you know any more of the Bible today than you did five or ten years ago? What are you giving to your children in the next generation? If you're not giving it to them, they're not getting it. What about your service in this congregation? Where's your ordination taken you? Maybe for a time or a season, you serve in your family, changing diapers or keeping a home or balancing a checkbook, or maybe it's balancing a corporate account. But do it in the name of Jesus Christ and link arms with others to do it the same way.

You know why we're going to do this? God told us to. Not me, not the Presbytery, but God. God told us to do this, for God has a desperate love for those people who are far from God and far from God's people. God is the shepherd seeking out the sheep, the Father waiting for the prodigal son, and it's what makes us tick as the people of God. It's part and parcel of who we are. This congregation, you know who we are? We are lovers. We love people. And when you love people, you care about them. You care where they're going to spend eternity, you care about how they're going to cope with the grief of death and sadness and broken dreams. If you care about them, then you've got to tell them that you care about them, and you've got to lead them to the Living Water that's for all of us.

Jesus' words to his disciples, and that includes you and me, his parting words were:

"Go and make disciples, . . . teaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"

And he made a promise:

I am with you always, to the close of the age.

And we are also going to do it because we can. We can - we've got the resources, the power, the potential, the energy, the passion. We're people that don't just tolerate a challenge; we're Type A's! We relish a challenge. We cut our teeth on taking risks. Some of us are venture capitalists . . . we're going to be venture Christians. We are. Venture Christians going into the unknown and making it work, putting our lives on the line. You know, if we're not taking any risks, we don't need any faith, and if we don't need any faith, we are being unfaithful. Unfaithful means knowing what you ought to do and not being willing to take the risk to do it. We end up ultimately being either risk takers, caretakers, or under-takers.

I want to be a risk-taker, and I believe that God is calling us to be risk-takers, to live on the edge, because if we're not living on the edge, we're taking up too much space. I really believe it.

We have already accomplished a lot . . . but it's nothing compared to what God wants to do. And we may not reach all the goals that I dream about for this congregation, but I'm going to die trying. I am. The day of my funeral I want to be remembered for one thing: loving people in the name of Jesus. What do you want on your tombstone? What do you want to be remembered for? What's your epitaph going say?

Anna Quinlan once addressed the graduating class at Villanova University. She said:

"You walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people with your same degree; thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life.

Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your minds, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much any more. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good."

She's right - we need something more . . . we need someone more. Someone to believe in . . . to whom we can anchor our souls. You know what? This is our coming-out day. This is our coming-out day because we are called to be people of radical personal change: a change in our values, our behavior patterns, our lifestyle, our beliefs, our assumptions, our dreams. We need to continue to craft a church where people are healed, and changed, and freed, and made different, and born anew, and given a fresh start, and oriented in a whole new direction.

We're going to go forth from here boldly into the future where no man has ever gone before, because God is calling us to do it. I really believe it. We'll move forward strategically, and prayerfully, soulfully, faithfully, boldly, courageously, with the leaders that God has already brought to this congregation as he has for sixty-seven years, seventy-five years, however long it is. We have people who will have stood the test of faith, and we're going to go forward in anticipation and joy. We're going to keep our eyes on True North, the main thing, a life-changing relationship with Jesus, and changing the world for the better.

I want our lives to be an Amen. To be a Yes. All of them.

Three years ago in May, when I dropped a letter in the mail to a member of this congregation who is on the PNC and then left with my family to go to Willowcreek Community Church, the five of us and about thirty other people from my congregation went to this dynamic church leadership conference. While Sue Mallory of the PNC was reading my letter, I was standing with 5,000 other people in that auditorium and I had no clue what was going to develop. We listened to this stirring message from Bill Hybels, pastor of that church that has 14,000 people in worship, that church that has made it its only vision to reach irreligious people for the cause of Jesus Christ. And he gave us this stirring challenge, asking us, "Where are you investing your life and what are you willing to put on the line to do it?" And I stood there with those 5,000 other people and we sang together this song, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back"

You know there are times that God takes us at our word. There's no turning back. Why would we turn back, when the future is so exciting? There's a cross before us, an empty tomb before us, Heaven before us, the love of so many people before us. If you can say Amen to what I said, will you join me in singing that song?

"I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back."

Amen. Thank you.

Share this sermon with a friend.