Some people may trip over a certain phrase in our 25-word vision statement. The word that can cause trouble is “more.” Here it is in context: The Vision of Dayspring Fellowship is “to glorify God by reaching out in love to more people, connecting them into authentic relationships, and growing up in maturity as followers of Christ.” Last week I pointed out that this vision depicts disciple-making and each one of us has part in this process. We can all reach out in love to more people! But how about this word, “more?” Is more necessarily better? It all depends. More of what? More broccoli doesn’t sound good, nor does more rain. But in this case we’re talking about people. Every person is important to God. If we are making disciples, why settle for just a few? Why not lead many to follow Christ? It’s exciting to read in Acts 2:47 - “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Note that “more” is a relative term. We should not only ask, “more of what?” But also, “more than what?” More than now. This is a vision of the future. More tomorrow than today. More this new year than last year. Why? There will always be more people who need to hear the good news, people who need to experience forgiveness, get off drugs, or get out of debt. There will always be more families who need healing. Know anyone with those needs? So do I. So let’s reach out in love to more people.

As we approach the weekend, the big news around town is that part of the town is underwater! In this week's installment of my Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I'll write about this exciting and potentially treacherous event. I have never seen the Willamette so high. This is the highest it has been since the flood of '96, and I didn't live here then. A few years ago I kayaked through the Keizer Rapids Park trails when the river rose to 26', but it is predicted to go higher today (Friday), cresting over 29'.

Yesterday I joked that I would be kayaking in to work today. Awaking to Lake Larry in the lower yard made me realize that it wasn't a joke at all! My son sees one good thing about the high water; he gets the day off school! The only advantage I see is that this may help me with my mole eradication problem.

While I have not experienced a bigger flood of water, I have seen many people in our valley flooded with suffering of one kind or another. My first text message of the morning came from a man telling me his mother had just died, after suffering from a prolonged illness. He is threatened by a flood of sorrow. He, and many of you, can probably relate to Psalm 69:2 - "I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me." I hope to help him grab on to something solid so he isn't swept away. The Bible says we can trust in God, even when the waters are rising. You can lead people to higher ground. There is one place to go. The Rock will never move or give way.

In today’s installment of these Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I will tell you what I want to see at the end of each of our weekend services. When it is all said and done, you will rise up and step out. You will stand and walk out of our building into the world where you represent Jesus. You will go back to your homes, your families, your jobs, your hobbies, and your lives. May you do so with a renewed sense of purpose. May you be tenacious and single-minded, for you exist to glorify God by following Jesus and leading others to follow him. My desire is to see you living with passionate abandon, persistently persevering to rise above the mundane of daily existence and linking your life to eternity. You have a destiny. Your Creator made you to receive and reflect his love. You can do that, by the power of his Spirit and for the sake of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Most people despise hearing about New Year’s resolutions. So, in today’s installment of these Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I will not ask you to set goals that you will fail to meet. But I will emphasize the value of utilizing this time of year as a fulcrum.
 
Don’t be discouraged about failures in your past. This weekend is a chance to make a new start. Have you had trouble with keeping your commitments? Maybe you’ve always wanted to read the Bible through in a year but you’ve fallen off the wagon somewhere in Leviticus. Yesterday’s failures will only drag you down if you let them.

I like to reach forward to things that I don’t yet have. Set your eyes on something that is beyond you. Stretch. May this New Year be a really new year for you. January 2012 can be the date you look back on and remember that you took a step up to a new kind of living.

You can live with purpose. You can organize your life to point toward the objectives you set. And as a church we can become what God wants us to be and do here in the Salem region. We represent Jesus Christ to a world in need. Let’s Rise Up and Step Out! Let’s get off to a good start this year and grow to a new place, and then grow some more!

In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll answer a question that may be on your mind: Why Christmas? Whenever we ask “why,” the answer can either explain the motive for an event or what results from it. The Bible clearly addresses both what led to Christmas and what it leads to. The answer reminds us of what matters most. I could turn to a variety of familiar passages in the Bible for a succinct explanation of what this holiday means. But I think I’ll direct your attention to a verse you may not commonly think of as a Christmas text. It is 1 John 4:9, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”

Why Christmas? God showed his love for us by sending his Son so we could live life as it was meant to be lived. This verse clearly addresses both what led to Christmas and what it leads to. Here’s the answer: Love led to Christmas. And Christmas leads to life! The same thing is taught in John 3:16. Christmas means that God loved us so much that he send his Son to give us life. Christmas is a message which transcends time and is stronger than the toughest of circumstances. It is good news of a great joy.

A very meaningful tradition at Christmas time is to read the beautiful account in Luke 2. In verses 17 and 18 we read about the way the shepherds responded to God’s gift of Jesus Christ. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” This makes me think of how we are to respond to the same good news they heard and saw. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll remind you of our responsibility to tell others about what God has done.

The news about Jesus is too good to keep as a secret to ourselves. Anything this wonderful must be shared. The shepherds came to understand that God had invaded their lives. He had intervened in the most amazing way possible. He came here to dwell among us. Theirs was a lonely life. Shepherds were not regarded highly in their day and spent long hours away from other people.

They realized that they would never be alone again. Jesus was called, “Emmanuel, God with us.” He came to be with them and to be with us. That is news to share!

This is the time of year that people think of giving thanks. It’s about time. Presumption isn’t an attractive attitude, whereas, appreciation is a winsome attribute.

The Bible teaches us to pray and to give thanks as we make our requests. In Phil 4:6,7, we read, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In this week’sMessage About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll remind you of the importance of giving thanks to God for all he is and all he does for us.

Many of our grandmothers told us to count our blessings. They were right. This is good counsel. Thanking God concurrently as we make our requests shows faith. Sometimes we end up thanking him that he has the wisdom to not automatically give us what we want.

We don’t have all we want. We can’t move as fast as we’d like. We aren’t making progress at the pace we desire. But all we have is from God and all we have is for him as well. So we thank him. When things go well, we honor him. When they don’t, we still look to his hand, dependently and expectantly.

This week, and ever week, give thanks.

I recently came across a little scrap of paper with some scribbled notes. I recognized it as a note I made to myself several (many) years ago. I was visiting a church and a small event in the service made a big impression on me. In this week’sMessage About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll tell you what I wrote to myself. It was important enough that I wanted to remember what I learned that day.

I was listening to the worship leader. He was from the younger generation. The holes in the knees of his jeans gave him away. He was singing a song that, at the time, was unfamiliar to me. I liked the style (retro-folk-alternative) and I was seeking to connect with the lyrics. He sang, “Lord, please break my heart in two.” The next line started, “Lord, please show me…” and, thinking fast and jumping to conclusions, I expected the rhyme, “…what to do.” That would make sense to me; just show me what to do, God. That’s how I plan on pleasing you, by doing something. But I was surprised. He finished the line this way: “show me more of you.”

I immediately thought about the difference in our generations and wrote a note to myself to explore the concept more later (this is the “later” I was looking forward to, now that I’ve finally found the note). My generation seeks to fulfill duty. We value faithfulness and sacrifice. These are good qualities, as are commitment and loyalty. That’s our stuff. We roll up our sleeves. We know about hard work, but we are not particularly experiential and don’t naturally think of God relationally. Most people my age want the younger generation to get to work. But they have something significant to teach us and in humility we had better learn the lesson. Seeking to serve God is great, but let’s make sure we seek him first! We must know him before we can make him known. Pray this: “Lord, show me more of you.”

A knock at my office door disturbed my concentration, but that is okay; I’ve come to see interruptions as opportunities. In walked two women with a vacuum cleaner. Hesitatingly, the younger one, a student, asked me if I would like her to vacuum my office. The young woman laboriously but sincerely sought to communicate. She needed word by word coaching from the supportive special needs instructional assistant who accompanied her. I replied that I would like my office vacuumed and began to help by moving chairs around. The program assistant pointed out every little fuzzy and scrap of paper on my carpet while the student (I’m not using their names due to a policy with the school district) faithfully followed her helper’s tender leadership and pushed the vacuum into new dusty territory.

Each week a short white bus pulls into our parking lot and special education students and their helpers descend on our church. They are part of the Salem-Keizer Public Schools Community Transition Program. The arrangement is to their advantage because they get to practice communication and job skills in an accepting environment. It is to our advantage because we get the office vacuumed! And, today, I received another blessing: seeing love work.

In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll speculate on how this special needs instructional assistant feels at the end of her workday. When she gets home at night, is she discouraged over the apparent lack of progress, or does she have reason to rejoice? Has she fulfilled her goal for the day? What is her goal? Is it to “fix” the student? It is to “solve” the problem? I think not. I imagine that she views herself as serving the student’s special needs. And each day that she demonstrates such tender love to the needy is a day that she has been successful.

You may be called to serve in a way that does not seem to solve the situation. Should you be discouraged? Should you give up and abandon the endeavor? Sometimes success is measured not by completing a project, but by loving people persistently through a process. As I watched the kind instructional assistant serve the young woman with the disabilities, I saw success. I saw that love works.

As I write this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’m listening to a video debate between two pastors on the question: Do you preach to build attendance or to build attenders? One is making good points about the importance of using the weekend services to reach lost people while the other guy is arguing for the priority of using the services for feeding the sheep. As you might guess, the moderator of the discussion is saying that both things matter. Pastors philosophies tend to follow their gifting. One of these men is gifted as an evangelist and another as a teacher. Both gifts are needed and both ends must be accomplished. In a sense, the debate is exploring a false dichotomy. God can draw people to himself in the same service where others are being challenged to grow. Here at Dayspring, we can’t be forced to choose between reaching people or being doctrinally deep. It is not one or the other, evangelism or discipleship; we want to do both things. To state it negatively, we don’t just want to draw a crowd, but neither do we just want to continue to feed the spiritually fat. Our mission is to make disciples and this involves teaching them all that Christ commanded (Matt. 28:18-20). Fulfilling the Great Commission includes both evangelism and discipleship. If the person in question does not yet know Christ, then our ministry is evangelism. Once the person has been born again, we help them grow. Both facets are simply leading people to follow Christ.