Passion.

Passion. By Pastor Joe

Three weeks from now, we will be celebrating Resurrection Sunday with a larger than normal crowd if history proves itself true again. Here is my challenge to each and every one of you; seriously consider inviting one person to church as a guest even if they’ve come before- especially if it’s been a while. Invite them to come on Resurrection Sunday. Another option would be to invite them to hear the Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge choir. The platform will be packed on Palm Sunday, and possibly they will want to come back the next week after experiencing such a great presence of the Lord the week before.

As a senior pastor with 30+ years of preaching ministry, I often find myself evaluating my sermons. What I need to improve, what I need to stop doing and always trying to be the most effective communicator to this fellowship. A number of years back on the corner of my notes was scribbled a little reminder to avoid saying “you know what I mean?”. This article is not about proper grammar, but it is about what we do to present Jesus with excellence.

Survey after survey has shown the most effective tool for growing a church is the personal invite. We will endeavor to use Facebook, our website, and any other tool to communicate the good news of Jesus with our area of outreach- our current Passion series is one that can be a great discussion piece! Take the time to consider the main topics for each message; Pastor Scott will be sharing today, Jonathan Rairdon next week and then two weeks later I’ll conclude on Resurrection Sunday with the final passion message.

Right after our Easter series concludes, the very next week we have a three day revival service with the Juoni’s and this will be a great complement to our Passion outreach, always hoping that some new individuals and families will start to attend. Multiple reports are talking about the move the Holy Spirit all over college campuses, we’ve all heard about what’s going on at Asbury College in Kentucky yet it has expanded to not only Christian colleges, but secular universities too are experiencing a move of God.

Here we are just weeks away from Holy week, the Jesus revolution movie has done far better than expected, and revival is breaking out all over college campuses in America. Obviously, revival has broken out all over the world, but today I’m thinking specifically about what’s happening in our “Judea”. Even as I write this article, winter seems like it is not going to let up, but the white stuff will come to an end and spring will soon be here with visible new growth! Just think of this massive amount of snow as the massive faithfulness of our God and Savior Jesus, “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” - Isaiah 55:10-11. Let’s all do our part this Passion season.