March Newsletter Column

Have you caught the vision? Thankfully, it's not a new contagious disease that's going around. It's the expectation of seeing God adding to this church daily those who are being saved, just like He did in the first church. And on February 20th, we got just a small taste of what that would be like!

That morning we saw seven people come forward in the service and trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What would it look like if that became a weekly occurrence? What would it look like if, instead of averaging one baptism a week (which is incredible), we were averaging seven baptisms a week? What would it look like if God used this body of believers in Eulaton, Alabama to spark a revival that would spread throughout our community, our county, and our state?

We were privileged to have John Hays with us on February 23rd, pastor of Jersey Baptist Church in Ohio. He shared with us how thirty years ago God planted a church in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere, and how that church is now one of the largest in the state. The journey at Jersey began with eighteen people who had a vision for what God could do in that community. And today, eighteen has grown to over twenty-five hundred!

Church, if God can do that in a cornfield in Ohio, He can do that on a dead end road next to an army depot in Alabama! I'm not saying we'll one day have twenty-five hundred people here. We may never see that many here; we may see more. But what I'm trying to get across is that God is able to do exceedingly greater things than we can even imagine. So let's not limit our vision!

One of the things Pastor John shared that really stuck with me was his testimony. He grew up in a home that knew nothing about Jesus. The first time he ever went to church, it was so he could play basketball. But even though he didn't attend church for the right reason at first, He soon met Jesus and his life was radically changed. And look at how God has used him!

The thought that came to my mind was this: how many kids do we have attending on Wednesday nights that might not be coming for the right reason? I'm sure many come just so they can play with their friends or to get out of the house for a few hours. But what's important is not why they've come to church; what's important is what we share with them while they are here! And who knows what the future will bring for some of these children? We may be ministering to the next John Hayes, or Adrian Rogers, or Billy Graham. What we're doing here matters. And it will have eternal consequences.

Have you caught the vision?