In the last Prayer Newsletter I started laying our part of the church vision. One of the statements I wrote said:

The Church will be a gathering of believers that love Jesus more than a comfortable life and are willing to follow Him in all His ways.

I wrote this on the fly, but after writing it down, it began to resonate with me. And now, the more I think about it the more I realize how often I fall short of this mark.

Too often we, as believers, have been willing to follow Jesus as long as we can still live comfortable lives. But Jesus doesn’t call us to comfort, He calls us to follow and to sacrifice.

I think the church has a task placed on it that is much larger than most of us realize. We are called to make disciples of all nations, to seek and save the lost, to minister to orphans and widows, to encourage one another, to feed and clothe the “least of these”, and above all else to follow Jesus and honor Him in all things.

The call is bigger than any person and bigger than any congregation or denomination. Accepting the call takes a radical step of faith and a commitment to sacrifice as we choose to follow Him.

Living in comfort is a really great thing, but living to follow Jesus and accept His call to change the world is even better.  As we plant this church, I will be stepping outside of my comfort zone and asking others to step out in faith as well. It will be scary, it will be difficult and it will be beautiful.