At the end of Brian’s message today, he invited people to come forward for prayer and anointing. I was one of a number of pastors and elders who were available to pray with folks.

The experience impacted me. It reminded me that the people that walk through the doors of our church every Sunday may look okay on the outside, but many are dealing with some tough stuff on the inside. Addictions. Marriages collapsing. Kid’s heading in a wrong direction. Medical challenges. Financial crisis. Lack of purpose.

Let me challenge you with these thoughts…

  • When you teach on “felt needs,” you aren’t watering down the message. You are helping people find forgiveness and healing and a new direction for their life. It’s easy to preach through the Bible. It’s much harder to preach to hurting people who need to understand how the Bible applies to their lives.
  • When the person sitting beside you is dealing with a marriage crisis that’s leading to a crisis of faith, it makes your preferences of music and volume seem pretty small.
  • When you neglect the mission field in your neighborhood because of your desire to help people across the ocean, I wonder if you’re just choosing the path of least resistance.
  • When you choose to focus on your theological differences at the expense of helping people find healing and hope, could it be that you haven’t spent enough time living out your faith because you’re too busy defending your faith?

In recent weeks, I’ve looked in people’s eyes and heard many stories. They are the real stories of real people experiencing real pain.

Let’s not forget why we do what we do.

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