Steve's Blog

It seems to me that there is a lot of talk about the Gospel - the Gospel that was. Jesus did this and Jesus did that, Jesus believed this and Jesus believed that. It seems less true that people are living out the Gospel in their lives today. We know the historical facts, but we don't live in applied truth. When you look at statistics (i'm not really huge on statistics) you see that the lives of "believers" are virtually the same as the lives of "non-believers." So maybe we need to ask a question - How do we produce a people, disciple a generation, develop followers of Christ who truly become like him? I think it's important for leaders of the church to ask some hard questions about the way we do things. In discple-making, do we really produce who we are? If so, who are we? Are we servants, are we sacrificial, are we people of character, are we humble, are we Spirit-led, are we holy - what are we reproducing in the lives of the people God has entrusted to us? My aim should not be to preach the Gospel (though I will preach), but to live the Gospel. It is not good enough to just preach. It is not good enough to just know the Bible. It is not good enough to just have great programs, a cool band, and a good assimilation plan. We need models; not church structure, style, growth, relevent, success... models. We need individuals actualizing the Gospel. People that are followable. People that are like Christ. Maybe I need to add this - making disciples doesn't happen at church. We need to go "on the road" with people so that they can see the Gospel in action. Church is such a fabricated place. (This should be an entire conversation of it's own) How can we disciple people to live a godly life in the real world from a church building? Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I am having - what do you think?