I'm Making A List
By Randy Shannon, Pastor
First Christian Church
Taken from the Sweet Springs Herald
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it"
1 Corinthians 12:27
Recently, my wife attended a teaching seminar in which the presenter recounted a survey he had taken. The survey asked each person present to make two lists: one listing the title's of the five most significant sermons they had ever heard and the other enumerating the five people who had most impacted their life.
How much easier it is to remember the people who made a difference in our lives than it is to remember the titles of even the best sermons we have heard!
I think that says something to us a Christians. We want our churches to make a difference… to impact the world for Jesus Christ but we don't always know how to go about it. We think that if we offer just the right programs or hire just the right minister that the progress we long for will come. Programs can be very meaningful and good ministers are a real blessing (in fact, there are a couple on my list of people who have most impacted my life) but neither programs or preachers are necessarily the answer.
A friend of mine recently read about a survey, which studied the reasons people gave for first attending a church. Programs and preachers made the survey but the MAIN reason people gave for attending a church was that a friend asked them to come.
The Church is no more effective than its members' willingness to love and be the Body of Christ. Each of us has a part to play in this Body. No one can make your contribution to God's kingdom but you. The power of the Church is in the working of God through the average lay person who seeks to live and love, as did Jesus Christ himself. That is why it is so exciting for me, as a pastor, to see activities such as the laity breakfast or local Fellowship of Christian Athletes. These are just two examples of ways in which I see Christ working in this community.
As a Christian, and as a pastor, it is my desire to impact my world for Jesus Christ. To put it another way, I want to be on as many people's lists as possible. I challenge you to live a life that seeks to do the same. And while you are at it, why not drop a note to one of the special people on your list and let them know how you feel about them, too. I think that is just the kind of thing that Jesus would do.
