What business are we in? What is our product? Who is our customer? In today’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll remind you that the church has been commissioned to make disciples for God. Disciples (followers of Christ) are our product and God is our only customer. The whole process of evangelism and discipleship (leading people to follow Christ) is for God. We must not engage in role reversal and regard ourselves as the consumers. It is crucial that we get this right. Our product is not the Sunday show, or the care we offer. It is not our programs, music or teaching, and the paid professionals are not performers. We don’t exist for ourselves. It would be a tragedy for the church to proliferate self-indulgent consumerism. Christianity, as a system, relationship, worldview and lifestyle, is not intended to meet the felt needs of society (though it will). This whole shebang is to please God. Think of it: you are not the customer of what we do here; you are the product! Since this is the case, when we evaluate how we’re doing, we don’t ask how many satisfied customers are buying what we are selling, but what kind of people are we producing for God? We make disciples for God. We lead people to follow Christ for God’s sake.

I’m trying to remember a billboard I saw while driving through Salem. I think it said, “I can’t go to college,” but the word “can’t” was crossed out and it said, “can.” The ad featured someone’s face with a determined smile. Do you remember seeing it? The sign came to mind as I was preparing this week’s message from Numbers 13 and 14, but the idea is also suitable for today’s Message About Purpose and Strategy.

The ad campaign was aimed at inspiring people to go to college. When you believe that you can do it then you will feel the confidence to actually enroll and start school again. If you don’t believe it, and remain full of debilitating trepidation, then you won’t follow through. Your insecurity will immobilize you so you stop before you even start! But if you can really do it, if that is the truth, then there is no reason for your sense of inadequacy!

As I think of what God is calling us to be and do as a church, I think, “We can do it!” When God calls his people to do something, he also equips them to do it. There is no power shortage with God. We want to make choices based on reality. The truth is that we can succeed because God has promised his presence and power. We can! Let’s do so.

I don‘t think I’ve ever resorted to using my Message About Purpose and Strategy for shameless advertising, but I will this week. And I’m not stooping to do so. It’s with great enthusiasm that I urge you to see the movie, Courageous. This movie fits into the fulfillment of our purpose as a church. We exist to glorify God by leading people to follow Jesus Christ. The movie aims at convincing men to prioritize their role as fathers and honor God with how they influence their kids. Promoting this movie is strategic. See it, use it; don’t miss it.

Sherwood Pictures, a ministry of a Baptist church in Georgia, made the movie. They are the ones who also did Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof. Courageous is overtly Christian and very touching. I urge you to see it and bring a friend. Courageous is still playing in theaters. Once it is released on DVD, buy a copy and lend it to friends.

Don’t miss this chance. See this movie.

Last week I used my Message About Purpose and Strategy to share some factors that contributed to Scott Marshall being the top scorer on his soccer team. He communicated that his success was a product of gifting, effort, and desire. These principles are transferable to the rest of life. Listen again to what this young man has to teach us about success.

"I believe these factors help me succeed in my marriage, work and ministry. God has given me natural abilities to communicate, problem solve, and relate with people. With my wife, this is a constant process but my natural abilities help me. Along with that, I always have to work hard at deepening our relationship. I know that stagnation in our relationship will not benefit our marriage. In work and ministry, I think hard work shows through in follow up with students, peers, and coworkers. It's not easy or fun to follow up but in order to have a successful career or ministry it is vital. Finally, hunger for success comes into play. I strongly desire to have a successful marriage and family. I believe I was greatly blessed with my upbringing and I want to pass that on to my family. This comes through learning, constantly honing my skills, reading, accountability, and communication. I also want to have a vital ministry and successful career. Initiative is a huge piece to success.”

I thank God for young couples like Scott and Jessica Marshall and the lessons he’s sharing with us about success in life. Let’s follow this advice! Dayspring, let’s rise up and use our gifts, put out effort, and be passionate about doing God’s will in this place.

I learned that a fine young family, the Marshalls, were about to move to another city. Their decision to relocate was driven by a great new job opportunity for Scott. While I was excited for them, I was sorry to hear we would be losing them, for both Scott and Jessica have been involved in ministry here.

I told Scott I wanted something from him before he left. I had heard that he was a leading scorer on his college soccer team. I had an idea that what made him successful in sports would be transferable to other areas of life. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll share with you his input. By the way, Scott has no ego. He is no braggart. We’re just examining him as a case study in what goes into success.
 
"I think there are three things that made me successful in soccer. First, God gave me natural athletic abilities which I honed through practice as well as trial and error.”
 
“Second, hard work. I spent summers getting into shape, working on my individual skills, and strength training. I poured hours into these activities and it paid off. I also would get together with a couple other guys and kick the ball around outside of practice to work on combination play and handling balls in the air. Hard work and developing the work ethic significantly helped me become a leading scorer.”
 
“Finally, I think the thing that helped me most was hunger for goals. Early on in my soccer career, I discovered that I would much rather score the goals than defend our goal. I always tried to put myself in a place where I could score if the ball came my direction. I built my individual skills in shooting, dribbling, deception, and composure. I was certainly not the biggest or fastest player on the field, but I usually was the best scorer. And this was because of my hunger to score goals. Another area of hunger was in learning. I remember watching soccer videos with my dad when my brothers were outside playing. Seeing the great players make moves and shoot the ball helped me so I could visualize myself doing the same things.”
 
That’s the first half of what Scott told me. His story includes great principles: success is a product of gifting, effort, and desire. I’ll share the second half next week, in which Scott applies these same principles to experiencing success in ministry.

In last week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I mentioned a meeting with Growth Group leaders. Let me tell you about something cool we did together, besides eating dessert. In our training meeting, I tried to get the group facilitators to picture the potential of exponential growth. I don’t want to boggle any anti-math minds, but a comparison between arithmetic progression and multiplication is eye-opening. When you start with one and add one nine more times, you end up with a grand total of 10. But if you start with one and start to double it, look what happens: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024! The difference between arithmetic progression (adding) and exponential growth (multiplying) is amazing. In 20 generations, the total is 1,048,576!

The potential for growth of this kind can be illustrated by folding a paper in half and in half and in half over and over. Incredible as it may seem, after 30 folds its thickness would be beyond the limits of the atmosphere! (Do the math!)
 
Why the emphasis on numbers? Someone will say: numbers aren’t important. I’d answer: it depends what the numbers represent. If we’re talking about numbers of people, then yes, numbers matter! Think and pray about the potential of spiritual reproduction and reach people who can reach people for Christ! As I wrote last week, follow Christ in a way that leads others to follow. Disciples are disciplemakers.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” He used this figurative language to convey that ultimate satisfaction is found in him. It is a great illustration because most people can relate to the way bread is so satisfying. A loaf of bread comes into play in the story I’ll tell you today. It definitely met a need.

I usually use these weekly Message About Purpose and Strategy to motivate you concerning what we do here at Dayspring and why we do it. This week I’ll simply share the first chapter in an unfolding success story.

Last weekend I met a family in the lobby between services and we had a very nice conversation. They had heard about Dayspring and were hesitant about attending at first, but have now been around for a month and they say they love it here. Since then, I’ve had some email contact with the Lopez family and they have expressed their appreciation for us in a very encouraging way.

“We have enjoyed attending the Sunday service as visitors and were warmly welcomed by many members each and every time. We were so surprised when we got home one evening on the last week of August when there was a nice letter from Dayspring thanking us for coming to the service. Under the letter was a delicious loaf of Zucchini chocolate chip bread which all four of us devoured in a couple of days! I immediately laughed and jokingly told my wife, ‘I guess Pastor Larry couldn't get rid of all the zucchini so they decided to make some bread out of it."

” No, I didn’t bake the bread. A more talented woman here at Dayspring named Paula Miller got the idea of making bread and delivering it to people who visit our church as a gift. The Lopez family was blessed by this simple expression of hospitality. What a good reminder of the importance of relational warmth!

In another note, they conveyed this wonderful encouragement: “We've been searching for 15 years to find our church home, and I think our search has finally come to a happy end. Thank you, Dayspring.”

How can you bless someone this week? Try walking across the lobby with a genuine smile and greet someone you don’t know.

The other day I was encouraging an individual about his future. I told him that his success in life would be dependent upon his progress in the process of maturation. So many people get fixated in adolescence with its self-absorption and entitlement syndrome. I was calling him to step up and spelled out three facets of maturity. After we talked I got to thinking how the advice I gave him is applicable to the church as well. I write these weekly Message About Purpose and Strategy to train and motivate you. This week I’ll list these same three facets of maturity and I want you to think about how they apply to us here at Dayspring Fellowship.

1. Maturity involves the ability to offset reward. I’m talking about discipline. We need to be able to make sacrifices for a future benefit.

2. Maturity involves the ability to “own your stuff.” This expression means to take personal responsibility - to not blame anyone else or hide behind excuses, but to rise up and do what needs to be done!

3. Maturity involves the ability to operate under authority. I don’t know of a job where this is not important. Everyone needs to learn how to demonstrate respect. This applies to Christians in a big way because we call Jesus Christ our Lord. If he is the King, then we are subjects in his kingdom and must submit to his rule in our lives.

Just as individuals mature, so must a church grow up and demonstrate discipline, responsibility, and respect.

One of the highlights of the recent Global Leadership Summit was a simple talk by a young pastor named Steven Furtick. The most powerful part of his presentation was an account from the Bible that describes a wonderful miracle. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll call your attention to this passage. It is in 2 Kings 3:9-20. Check it out. The people were in desperate need for water and God’s Word came with the odd message: “Make this valley full of ditches.” I’ll tell you, if I’m thirsty, that last thing I want to do is to swing a pick into dry dirt under the hot sun! God was planning on blessing them with rain, but he told them to get ready to receive the miracle. People are responsible to do their part, but they are dependent upon God to do his part. Only God can send the rain. Let’s get ready for the blessing of God. 3:17,18 - “For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water… This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord….” We can learn more about techniques and become more efficient, but ultimately, we are reliant upon God to accomplish what only he can do. While we wait for revival, let’s get ready by digging some ditches.

I passed a restaurant and noticed its name on the sign. The place is called, “Almost Home.” That’s an interesting name. I don’t suppose they want to convey that the food is not quite as good as what is at home in your fridge, otherwise you would just drive by and go nuke some leftovers. My impression is that they want you to think of warmth and acceptance. They want to portray an ambiance that reminds you of good memories and better times. People remember fondly the sights, smells, and feelings associated with being at home. Home is the place you feel safe. Home makes you think of consistency and that produces security. That’s what I want people to experience here at Dayspring. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll challenge you to consider how you can contribute to our church feeling like home for more people. We want the kind of atmosphere where no one is left out. There should be the feeling of familiarity and the sound of laughter. You can play a part in making our church more hospitable. Look for someone you don’t know in the lobby and walk across the room to extend your hand. Learn their name and help them to feel happy they came to Dayspring. May we experience the blessing of family, even in our large setting by each doing our part to treat others like they matter. Love works! Try it.