Be the Difference

Dear Worshippers,

Here we go again. Another fall has arrived, which means a new beginning for ministry in this community which revolves around the university calendar. And rightly so, a large part of our mission field just came back to us. But what will our ministry look like in this new season, and what role will you play in what God wants to do.

Benjamin Franklin has been attributed with this definition of insanity, which a friend reminded me of recently: “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” We will do many things the same as a church this fall. I am asking myself as I look at the ministries under my charge, “How will it be different?” I am also asking myself, and want to encourage you to do the same, “How will you be different?”

One thing we are doing the same, but differently, is our Annual Children’s Missions Musical. We had our camp a few weeks ago, with 31 kids involved. We poured spiritual and musical concepts over them five hours a day for five days. We have been doing this for years. What’s different is how we are going to employ that labor for the Kingdom.

Tomorrow evening, 8.27, at 6:30 in the sanctuary, parents and kids alike have been invited to come enjoy the musical, then a time of refreshments while they register for different children’s ministries. I want to encourage you to attend. You will be blessed. If you can not come, please pray for us. Our desire was to share this musical with as many unchurched people as possible, and we are hoping that a number will be present for this special event.

Then on Saturday, we are taking the musical outside the walls of our church and all the way to Fairmont. We will be sharing it as a part of a special “Go for the Gold Back to School Bash” sponsored by the Fairmont Alliance Church Saturday night. Pray for many in that community to come out. They have had as many as 150 kids in the past and have promoted well again.

This is just one example of trying to take something we have done and do it a little differently, with the hope that it will produce even greater results for the Kingdom. But I want to encourage you to consider what you will do differently. Is there an area where you have been relying on your own strength? A relationship that you have left Jesus out of? A circumstance that you have avoided taking to God?

The theme for the year at the school where my boys attend is “Be the Difference.” It is based on John 15.5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Remain in Jesus, and more than just doing something differently, be the difference.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott