Monday, June 20, 2011

WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?

Yesterday I watched Rory McIlroy destroy a world-class field of golfers and win the US Open by eight strokes. Besides the wide-margin of victory, what makes his victory so intriguing is that Roy is still a kid,  only twenty-two years old. As the announcers were sharing their post-tournament reflections, Johnny Miller talked about the whole group of young, outstanding, up-and-coming, highly-talented, twenty-something golfers that are changing the landscape of the sport. Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson) may well be giving way to Rory and Jason (Jason Day, a twenty-three year old, finished in second.)

Today I will be attending an assessment event at Hope Baptist Church for church planters hosted by Launch, a church-planting organization. The assessment will be filled with young, twenty-something, aspiring church planters. Being somewhat familiar with what's happening in church planting around our country these days, I realize that this event is not an isolated phenomenon. Scores of passionate, gifted, twenty-somethings are sensing God's call to plant a church.  In his recent book,   Ed Stetzer pointed out that for the first time in a long time there are now more churches being planted than closed each year in our country. These young church-planters are changing the landscape of the church, and may be instruments in changing the landscape of the nations itself.

I began this morning by thinking about the new developments taking place in the world of golf. Now, mid-morning, I'm thinking about new developments taking place in church planting.  Both developments testify to changes taking place in our world, but only one of these has the power to effect lasting change.

What concerns me about me is that I could have caught up in the world of golf and missed the greater thing that God is doing in his church. I could have missed the greater thing that God is doing because I was spending my time looking at, giving attention to, and thinking about something else.

I don't want to miss what God is doing in our world. My guess is that you don't either. One thing is clear, however,  if we want to see what God is doing, we need to be looking for it. If we are prayerfully looking for what God is doing, I'm confident He will reveal it to us.  That's a promise God gives to us again and again. Once we know what God is doing, then we have the great privilege of participating in his activity.

I'm really looking forward to being at this assessment this morning. God is up to something, and it's a lot bigger than a stunning victory at a golf tournament. Let's make sure we don't miss it.


Save Now