Hey Nic,
I read your post “What is Stopping You?” on Engage & Equip and I have some questions. I agree wholeheartedly with the post, as well as the other posts/sermons as of late about community and living sent, etc. However, I am unsure about how to get past what I feel is stopping me much of the time, which is that I am introverted. I know that God made me this way and so it isn’t a mistake. I know that introversion is certainly not an excuse to sit out of Jesus’ callings of community and reaching out to people with the gospel. The part I struggle with is how to do that as an introvert. How do I be myself, and not be fake, but still reach out to people?
So you want to invite someone to Easter at High Point? Great! Here are some simple guidelines to help make your friend or family member’s experience uplifting and free from any intimidation they may feel towards going to church.
STEP 1: Ask them about their Easter plans and invite them to church
You’d be surprised how many people don’t have family in the area or friends to spend the holiday with. Even if they already have plans, asking about them shows that you care. Pick up some invite cards in the High Point lobby or get more Easter information on High Point’s website.
At High Point, if you’ve been listening, you’ve been hearing that we need to be engaged in living a life that “goes to dark places,” that gets out and uses the opportunities that God is giving us to make a difference with the Gospel.
But, just as important as hearing the positive message is facing the negative one: Why don’t I?
A couple of weeks ago, Eric Hesse preached on living sent. He talked about Jesus’ instructions and his practice of going to dark places and shining the light of the gospel. One of the metaphors that Eric used was the light department at Menards. His point was that lights were meant to light dark places, not sit next to each other and contribute nothing to an already lit place. Lights aren’t for huddling any more than they are for covering.
However, many Christians have also heard another story about light. The story is about a gentleman who had stopped going to church, and his pastor paid him a visit in the evening.
On Sunday I said a bunch about the Sabbath commands, but I didn’t explicitly talk about how we should be obeying them these days. Below is a talk I did for Badger Cru that is meant to give some framework for how to think about them now.
This morning, I mentioned a Christianity Today article that talked about 10 of the most popular strategies for helping the poor that were actually cost effective.
Remember, this article is not arguing that other ways of helping the poor are bad. There are cost-effective ways of helping the poor, ways of helping the poor that are not cost-effective, and there are means of trying to help the poor that actually hurt them. There are many ways of doing humanitarian work that fall into the second category.
This article only seeks to highlight the top 10 most economically effective ways of helping the material sufferings of the poor.
Engage & Equip 