How strong is it?

This past weekend I was down in Mount Vernon, Ohio, a city I love and miss so much. From where I am in Michigan its a four hour drive. Normally I leave after board meetings and go down for Friday and Saturday, so I leave pretty late. That was the case this past weekend.

When I drive for long hours by myself I tend to talk to myself. I play out conversations I've had recently, pray and start talking about something that I'm working through, and then one tangent leads to another. I also find that I finish a thought, and then repeat the whole thing three or four times, because I really love how it sounded, or its a topic I have a lot of passion for. I've really started to notice that some of my most profound thoughts come during long drives late at night.

As I drove late Thursday night thoughts of the church came to my mind. I thought about things from the last sermon I preached, kicked some thoughts around for the one I'm about to start working on, and then this came out of my mouth. "We lay the foundation for the next generation, how strong is it?"

This made me think about something one of my mentors told me once. "I will fail as a pastor before I ever fail as a husband or a father. Someone else can do the work of the church, but I am the only one that can be a husband to my wife and a father to my kids. If my children are raised right, then they will far surpass anything I could ever accomplish in ministry." I've taken the same mindset, because I think its a crucial mindset to have. If I'm a pastor of a church of thousands, but my own family is neglected, callused towards the church because of neglect from me, I have failed in what is truly important.

Every generation passes on a foundation to the next one. Depending on how strong it is depends on what the next generation can accomplish. If the foundation is strong, they can grow, they can expand, they can build and accomplish so much. But if the foundation is week, the accomplishments will depend on the resolve of the generation.

A weak foundation must be reinforced, must be strengthened, possibly totally rebuilt. If the generation is strong, if they are determined, they will take the time, they will rebuild it, and they will press on to build upon it. What could they have accomplished if the foundation had been strong from the beginning?

So what type of foundation are we laying? What values and morals are we passing on? What things are we teaching and emphasizing? I've said it numerous times, the goal of the Christian is to become like Christ, the purpose of the church is to help each other to become like Christ. If this is the foundation we lay, if this is what we teach and emphasize, if this is what we pass on, then the future is hopeful.

Another mentor of mine once said, "If the church would be the church the world would be flipped upside down." If the church would be the church that was made up of members who are constantly striving to become more like Christ and constantly working to help others become more like Christ then the famous quote of Gandhi would no longer be a true statement, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

I don't want that to be said of me, either one of them. I want to be one of the people that John Wesley sought, "Give me three hundred people who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will set this world on fire." Are you one of them?

The goal: Become like Christ
The Purpose: Help others become like Christ

Peace be with you