God grants us certain success stories from time to time, and I think that Eddie and Chelsey Franz are a gleaming example of what God has been doing here at Dayspring. They recently relocated to Louisville, KY and they love it. But they loved it here as well, and our church played a big part in their lives. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll share some excerpts from a note they wrote that clearly communicates about the importance of getting involved in ministry. Here’s what they said: “Dayspring has been an essential part of our marriage and our family. We feel truly blessed to have been a part of it the past several years. We didn’t fully get involved until about 6 years ago when we joined a growth group for the first time. The group became a second family to us and, as our relationships strengthened, we began to see the church in a different light. No longer did we look to the church as an outside entity that we visited once a week with the purpose of serving our needs. Instead, we began to look at the church and our community and extended family. We sought different ways we could we serve the church and the community (Mark 10:45). This church is full of individuals who week in and week out use their “special gifts” (1 Peter 4:10) to serve others. Seeing that dedication has prompted and encouraged us to be more involved and to use our own gifts in a similar manner. We learned first-hand, the more you get involved, the more focused you will be on serving the church rather than looking for the church to serve you.”

What matters most? What are we really striving for in life? Is the aim simply the enjoyment of pleasure, or is there more in store for us? I think we want to enjoy healthy relationships and make a difference in our community. Let’s not live lives of apathy and ineffectiveness, self-absorbed and pitifully ingrown. Let’s rise up and love God and others with passionate abandon! In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll telling you why I’m teaching this new series of messages. I’ll be revisiting our theme for the year (Love Works) for the remainder of the summer. The Bible tells us that without love, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3). It is the essential distinctive of the Christian life. Remember Gal 5:6? It is posted on the wall in our Celebration Center: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Let’s gear up to make progress in loving God and others, just as Jesus taught. Picture how Dayspring can impact our region when we are living lives of authentic, active Christian love! Now let’s do it!

Sometimes a typo can appear to be what psychologists call a Freudian Slip, or parapraxis - an unintentional error revealing subconscious feelings. There is a theory that some mistakes can disclose what we really mean. I’ll tell you about a particularly meaningful mistake in this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy. Beyond our giving to support the ministry of Dayspring, Annie and I support some missions organizations, such as World Vision, and some missionaries, such as Dean and Ada Overholt, country leaders in Thailand with Reach Global. In the Overholts recent prayer letter they were explaining what people could expect in their sent-off service (they are about to leave Pennsylvania for another few years in Thailand). In addition to other items on the agenda for their meeting, they said, “we will show lots of pictures from our loves over the past 25 years….” What they meant to write was that they will be showing pictures of their lives over the past 25 years. The fact that they accidently wrote, “our loves,” rather than, “our lives” is meaningful. They’ve given their lives to love God and love others. They have served in places that are hot and humid and dangerous. They’ve eaten snakes and lizards on purpose and many flies on accident. They’ve survived a huge tsunami and angry militants. Every effort has been a labor of love. When they show pictures of their lives, they are showing pictures of their loves! Our theme for the year here is “Love Works.” I’ll be returning to this theme with my next series of messages, “Summer Love,” with weekends on loving your mate, your kids, your parents, your job and your country. We will open the series next week with a message on your first love, God.

I read to learn and I read for fun, but sometimes when I am reading for fun, I end up learning. I needed something quick and light, so I picked up “The Silver Chair,” by C.S. Lewis. It is Book 4 in the Chronicles of Narnia. A single sentence jumped off of page 19 and moved me to prayer. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll share what made such an impression on me. In the book, a girl named Jill finds herself in the enchanted land of Narnia. She talks with Aslan (a lion who represents Christ in the stories) about how she got there. He says he called her into his land but she is sure he is mistaken. From her perspective, she came because she asked to come. His answer is theologically deep: “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling you.” The most important part of my preparation for the services this weekend is to pray that God would call people to himself. I will be challenging people to call out to God, but the ones who come will be people God has already been drawing to himself. Join me in preparing for the services by asking God to call many people so they will call out to him.

In last weekend’s services we took a look at Christ’s command for us to invest what we value in a way that pays eternal dividends. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I want to point you to what the Bible says about God himself being pleased with what we invest in heaven. Our financial support of ministry is ultimately an offering to God. In Phil 4:18, Paul refers to a financial gift as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” God is the real recipient when we give. God won’t forget what we’ve entrusted back to him. “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” He takes it personally when we obediently prioritize his values and give. “Whatever you did…, you did for me (Matt 25:40). The Bible calls us to present our first and best to God. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits…” (Pr. 3:9,10) not with the leftovers. When we consider the challenge to live the Christian life with eternity in mind, giving and serving with abandon, it is easy to hold back in fear, thinking that the cost is too high and the sacrifice is too deep. Paul, the Apostle, gets us back on track: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor 4:17,18).

On a walk last week I encountered three interesting things in one block: a mailbox sitting on a terribly deteriorated stand which was propped up by a metal pipe, a man doing yard work who suddenly fell, and some beautiful flowers poking up from an ugly crack in the sidewalk. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll tell you what my impressions of these observations have in common and apply the lesson to what we are doing here.

The mailbox sits precariously on a platform of inadequate strength to support it, but the necessary stability is supplied by an adjacent steel pipe. It doesn’t look too good, but the mailbox is serving its function with the help. When the man fell, I hurried to his side to see if he needed a hand. Had he just lost balance, or was it something worse? I didn’t know, so I offered help. And the flowers bloom despite their surrounding. Apparently enough water flows through the crack in the concrete that the little plants get what they need. We can be that prop. We can lend a hand. We can channel the life-giving water. We are the church! We have a role! Our community needs us! Do the work of God where it is needed most - right on the street where you live!

As I stood by the sink in the church rest room, I was surprised by a sudden whirring noise of a motor near me. A paper towel automatically emerged from the dispenser on the wall. Apparently, in an effort to save money, we had automatic paper towel dispensers installed recently. I later learned that studies show people use less paper if the towels are automatically delivered, thus saving costs in the long run. I hadn't noticed the machine, but it noticed me. I guess I cast a shadow on the sensor and triggered the motor to unroll a towel for me. Up to that point, I was still yanking them out by my own power, not even realizing that they could be handed to me. An illustration occurred to me and I'll share it with you in this week's Message About Purpose and Strategy. Last week I taught on the Lord's Prayer. Jesus taught us to pray. I don't think he would command us to do what is futile. We don't follow the sort of Savior who would mislead us. If prayer had no effect, Jesus wouldn't have encouraged it. So prayer works, but sometimes we just walk by, not even noticing that a different way of getting things done is available to us. We still grab for what we need in life, unaware of the power available. There is power in prayer that many of us ignore. Let's not pass by oblivious to what can be placed right in our hands. "You do not have, because you do not ask God" (James 4:2).

The ministry of a church is not limited to what happens here in our weekend services - there is much more going on in and through Dayspring - but the services do seem central in some ways. And, though the services contain much more than the message, the preaching is important. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll share what I aim at accomplishing with each week’s sermon. You can pray for my preparation and delivery by asking God to empower me to fulfill my three key objectives in teaching: to be accurate to God’s Word, to be applicable to Christians in order to build them up, and to be attractive to those who are still just looking, that they may be stimulated to further investigate the truth about Jesus.

In Staff Meeting on Wednesday I shared an inspirational story and a meaningful maxim. I’ll share the same with you in this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy. It was the story of William Carey, who served as a missionary in India for more than 40 years in the early 1800’s. He never went to college, or even high school, yet he was able to start the first Christian college in Asia. He established other schools, hospitals, a bank, a newspaper and a paper mill. He also planted churches and translated the Bible into six languages and parts of it into another twenty-nine other languages. Possibly his most famous saying was, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” I love this. It reminds us of the source of strength for such great accomplishments. God supplies the power, we simply step out in faith and aim high! Is a risk really all that risky with God’s promised presence always with us? Let’s follow William Carey’s motto: “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”

This Wednesday, I read two interesting articles. One was on George Washington’s philosophy and style, and the other was called, “Principles For Pastoral Success,” by Erwin Lutzer. In this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy I will tell you what they have in common and summarize Lutzer’s list. The article on our first president was written because people understand that our founding fathers’ values affect our country today (at least they should). And the article about what pastors should value is important to us for the same reason - it explains something about how our church operates today.

Erwin Lutzer explained the principles underlying solid pastoral priorities. This list helps you to better understand Dayspring’s ministers, and thus, our ministry.

1. Praying is more important than preaching. When forced to choose, make prayer your top priority. Prayer is not preparation for the work - it is the work.

2. Preaching is more important that administration. Many pastors spend so much time running the church that they have little time for study and reflection. It is the ministry of the Word that gives the greatest impact.
 
3. The family is more important than the congregation. Pastors receive affirmation from their congregations and, as a result, often feel vulnerable to the pressure of public opinion.

4. Faithfulness is more important than competition. When you are content with your part in the kingdom's work, you will have a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

5. Love is more important than ability. Paul cautioned that all the gifts and talents were folly if not accompanied by love (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

From Pastor to Pastor by Erwin Lutzer, copyright (c) 1998.