What Kind of Day is Today?

This is an excerpt from the book, "The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Church For The Community" by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson - Chapter 1 - What Kind of Day Is Today?"
Jesus didn't ask, "Would you like to walk?" He asked the invalid at the pool of Bethesda, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5). . . maybe Jesus was alluding to something more than just walking. When he asks, "Do you want to get well?" Jesus is asking the man if he is ready for the change that is coming. The man's friends will most likely change. He won't be begging anymore; he won't be by the pool anymore. If he gets well, a lot of things will change.
"Do you want to get well?" That's the question Jesus asked the man at the pool and it's a question we (authors) asked at the end of our first book, "Externally Focused Church." We've come to discover that "Do you want to get well?" is one of many great questions Jesus asks. After 30 years in the "people business - most of it with congregations and their leaders - we have found that we don't want to get well. We want the pain or angst to stop, or we want good things to come, but the bottom line is that most of us don't really want change.
Have you ever noticed that the guy at the pool doesn't really answer this great question from Jesus? His response was something like, "Sir, everytime I try to get into the water, someone always gets in ahead of me." In other words, he says, "I would if I could but I can't, so I am not. It's not my fault."
What is true for us as individuals is almost always magnified when we get in a group. We have been with thousands of church leaders, and we often talk about how we want to get better as people, leaders, as congregations. We want to be more effective, reach more people, help people grow in their faith, serve more effectively. We want to get well! While a whole lot of us talk about what we ought to do, could do, might do, or should do, most of us end up sitting around the pool explaining to one another what's holding us back from change. Change is hard but necessary. Which means we need to ask ourselves hard questions that will hopefully spark a change - a lot of change - in our own churches and others.
Sometimes the questions are tough, but we have a responsibility to take the gospel that never changes to a world that will never be the same. Jesus may be the same yesterday, today and forever, but the world we are living in is changing everyday. Are you ready to ask some more tough questions about your church and the community? Are you ready to change the conversation once again? Do you want to get well?

What Kind of Day is Today?

Prayer Reminder

It seems like a good time to remind everyone of our commitment to pray every day for our community and the vision God is placing on our hearts.

We are looking forward to a time of gathering on July 16th from 10-noon to share what God is placing on our hearts. Now is the time to prepare!

Something Worth Reading

Here's a link to a .PDF featuring an article by Floyd McClung on the cost of mission. It's inspiring to think about what God can accomplish through us!

Click here to read article!

Prayer Tonight...6:30 PM Youth Center

We keep coming back to the foundation of our mission as prayer.

We can't be where God wants us to be if we don't listen to him.

We can't do what he wants us to do without his power.

There is a direct connection between the quality of our prayer life together and the effectiveness of our ministry together.

Join us in the Youth Center tonight at 6:30 PM for great conversational prayer!

Launch!

Welcome to this new blog, a place to connect with each other on the mission we are sensing into the heart of the city. This exciting journey will bring us to experience God's power and presence in ways yet unseen.

On Saturday, about 25 of us gathered in DWCC's Youth Center for a couple of hours to pray, connect with each other, and consider how we can best position ourselves to do the work that God is leading us to.



The feedback we've received is a mixture of enthusiasm and curiosity over what God might be up to in our church. Some of the things we accomplished on Saturday:

-Powerful conversational prayer focused on our community.
-Studied Matthew 9:35-38 and talked about the need for SPLANCHNA (You had to be there for that.)
-Gathered in small groups to discuss the following:

What would it take for Desert Winds to become the "soul" of our community?
-The groups agreed on the following points:
1. Prayer must be foundational to all of our ministry.
2. We must seek specific vision from Holy Spirit so that we are doing His work and not ours.
3. We must be Kingdom-minded. (joining with those things that are already bearing fruit.)
4. We have to be obedient people (see Psalm 25:12-14)
5. We must be willing to sacrifice good things for God's things. (There might be things we're doing now that are good...but getting in the way of doing what God wants us to do.)
6. Already ready to go. We have to be ready when God calls us!

What are the obstacles we face in having passion/mission for our community?
-Our groups identified in themselves elements of idolatry (putting other things before God), selfishness (doing what I want to do...what brings ME gratification, etc.), Spiritual Blindness (not being able to see God at work, or being unwilling to take the time to seek his will), and Fear (We know there's going to be a price to pay...and we're going to get pushed out of our comfort zones...and we like comfort zones!)

What would you identify as the next steps in us "going missional" in our community?
-Everyone wanted to know when our next gathering would be. There was a lot of enthusiasm for it! (BTW, the next meeting will be Saturday, July 9th in the Youth Center from 10 AM-Noon!)
-Everyone felt challenged to identify someone they can bring along with them for the next meeting.
-There was a group commitment to prayer that God would reveal his vision and plan for DWCC to be missional...a commitment to pray in this way every day!
-We all felt a desire to position ourselves spiritually to act in line with God's will. There is definitely a need to repent and turn from our sinful ways so that we can receive forgiveness and transformation.