While traveling to a youth event back in the day, the driver of the van didn’t notice that the light had turned green.  A friend of mine, a person known for her quite nature, let the driver know the folly of his way by quietly stating “It ain’t gettin’ no greener.”

On my way into the office this morning, I was momentarily halted at a green light because the driver in front of me didn’t notice the light had changed.  He caught on after only a few seconds, but the irony of the situation didn’t escape me.  My morning commute was slowed down by a FedEx truck!  Isn’t it their job to get things to their destinations as quickly as possible, hence the “express” part of their name?

Churches that want nothing to do with aggressive evangelism efforts (including, but not restricted to, church planting) puzzle me in the same way as the FedEx experience I just shared.  Isn’t it the Church’s purpose to tell people about Jesus?  Yet, so many are so busy paying attention to other things that they miss their God-given purpose.  All the while, Jesus is saying to them, “It ain’t gettin’ no greener.”  Jesus didn’t tell us to get our act together before we told people about him, or to wait until we reached a certain maturity level before fulfilling our purpose.

 It’s our purpose, friends.  Let’s just get out there and do it.  Otherwise, we’re living a spiritual irony that keeps others from their destinations.  That’s why The Gate is pursuing other ministries even though our church is still young.  It’s who we’re called to be, and we’ll settle for nothing less.

One of the high points of our church is the emphasis on having fun together.  Over the summer we’ll be taking a break from our LifeGroups to meet three times as a church to just hang out in different venues.  The first is this Sunday.  We’ll all be meeting at Debbie Turnbull’s home in Canfield.  Check out our web site for more info under the “current events” button.  Debbie will provide directions to her home at the guest services table this Sunday.  You can also let her know what goodies you’ll be bringing for grub.

 The kids of The Gate have been inspired by our winning softball team and have challenged the adults to a game.  Bring your gloves and bats so we’ll have enough to go around.

See you then.