Embracing Our Influence: Invest, Invite, Impact

We, as a group of churches, we are actually stewards of extraordinary influence and unprecedented opportunity. That we, as a group of churches in the Atlanta area, really are stewards. That is, we've been given an extraordinary opportunity because of our influence and, as you're gonna see in just a minute, an unprecedented, and I know unprecedented is like a big word, but we really do have an unprecedented opportunity as it relates to our city. [00:01:46]

We wanted to create a church that unchurched people loved to attend. We wanted to create a church that unchurch people, people who were far from God, people with questions that maybe nobody could answer, would show up, participate in church with you and walk away saying, you know what? I'm not sure I believe it all, but that was helpful. I'm not sure I believe it all, but those are some of the finest people in our community. [00:03:32]

I envision a world where the church is considered an essential part of every community, that when people find out a church is coming they're excited, even if they're not church people, that the church is considered so valuable and such an integral part of the success of any community that people would love the fact that there's a local church or a new local church in their community. [00:14:07]

The second thing is a world where people skeptical of what we believe are envious of how well we treat each other and amazed at how well we treat them. This captured the attention of the ancient world. This is what set the early Christians apart. They picked up abandoned children. They stayed in villages when plagues would rip through different parts of the world and they would nurse people back to health. [00:16:11]

A world where people want the message of Jesus to be true before they believe it's true. A world where the gospel is so clear that it is as compelling as it actually is because it's so clear. Because when the gospel message is clear people will want it to be true before they believe it's true. Who doesn't want justice for people who've been treated unjustly? [00:19:08]

And I want to call your attention to it and I want to invite you back to it because it is the one thing that every single one of us can do that would make all the difference for someone in our communities. And we called it in the old days, and I'll call it in these news, invest and invite, invest and invite. It's very simple. You love your neighbors, you love your friends, you love the people you work with and then when the time is right you invite 'em to church. [00:25:28]

Whenever you hear, not in church, not going well, and not prepared for. Not in church, not going well, and not prepared for, don't need to write this down. Gonna hand it to you on your way out. Not in church, not going well, you're shocked, aren't you? Not prepared for. Oh, you know, we're not really church people. Oh well, you should come to my church. [00:31:22]

Come sit with me. Come sit with me. Altogether, everybody out loud. - [Crowd] Come sit with me. - Not, well, you should visit our church sometime, see 'ya. Hey, you should check it out. You should watch online. Nope, we're not doin' that anymore. Now, I want you to use good judgment, but the invitation is hey, come sit with me. [00:33:16]

This is the keystone habit that changes everything. And here's why it's such a big deal. This is the bigger deal, this is the bigger picture. When we do this consistently and we get this right it impacts, a keystone habit, it will impact how we serve, it will impact how we sing, it will impact how we give and it will impact, and to me this is the most important one, it will impact how we evaluate. [00:36:08]

We gotta continue to be a place where people who are suspicious, people with questions, people who are seekers and starters and returners can show up and get some answers to their questions. But more than anything, I just want 'em to meet you. I just want 'em to participate in the environments that you've created because at the end of the day they're life changing and I don't know why everybody wouldn't wanna be a part of it. [00:38:08]

This one keystone habit, this one keystone habit, invest and invite, inviting strangers, come sit with me, will keep us focused on our mission and will allow us to again, lead more people to become followers of Jesus and after all, come on, Jesus brought the kingdom of God to earth. Jesus introduced the kingdom values to earth that everybody has dignity, that everybody has worth, that everybody matters and everyone is invited to participate in it. [00:39:54]

So, here's your assignment this week. This week, maybe before this day's over, you're going to hear, now that I've kinda put it in your head, you're gonna hear somebody say something, I don't go to church, or things aren't going well, I wasn't prepared for that, nah church, I wasn't prepared for that, moved to this city and boy, we had a baby and you know we thought we had it all under control, everything was beautiful and then they let us take it home. [00:41:42]