Asking new questions

Many of you probably get the 'Ogletown Oracle,' our church's newsletter. However, for those of you who don't receive it, here is my last column (yes, I am a columnist!).

Asking new questions. Adjusting my perspective. Realigning my passion. It seems that is what I have been doing in my quiet times with the Lord and conversations with people. I am glad that God doesn’t allow us to get stagnant in our lives, but continually pushes us to grow in grace and our knowledge of Him.

I have been challenged by the prospects of the future of OBC. God has done great things in our church over the years, especially in the last few months. I sense when I talk to so many at OBC an expectancy as to what the future might hold. Could God work here in even greater ways? I believe the answer is “YES,” and with that, I wanted to share some new things I am considering. I have replaced a few questions (that I have thought about and been asked before concerning the church) with what I believe to be better questions.

For instance, what often goes through our mind at this stage in the life of our church is “What can we as a church do with all the space that we have now?” We opened up nearly 46,000 square feet a few weeks ago! Amazing potential. And yet I have been led to ask a new question: “How can we share the gospel with our community, regardless of our facility?” Using the space God has given us will surely follow in our answer to that question. Truly, our desire to share the gospel should fuel the use of our time, space, and resources as a church. Living the gospel goes beyond the 4 walls here, even if the 4 walls just got bigger.

Another question we are tempted to answer is “How can we get people to come to Ogletown?” But, we can ask a better question: “How can Ogletown be mobilized to be the body of Christ in our community?” We often ask God to make a bridge for us into the community where we live. But, we may often fail to see that God expects US to walk across that bridge looking for lost sheep, rather than the lost sheep to wander across that bridge and find us.

I believe with all my heart that for Ogletown to be the church God intended us to be, we need to be walking across some bridges, leveraging our relationships, thinking through the 168 hours we have each week, loving our neighbors, and sacrificing our lives for His glory. I cannot imagine anything that would please Him more.

Asking, adjusting and realigning! That's what I'm doing.