Building Disciples: People who Live and Love like Jesus!

Have you ever looked around the spiritual landscape and asked yourself the question, that "for a people who are supposedly filled with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, why isn't the church making more of an impact upon society?" Or even more perplexing, why has society so infected the church that we, in many cases, have been neutralized and have compromised our God given position in our country and the world at large. I believe that one answer rises above all others.

Recently, a person came to Sunday service that I had not seen in years. He proceeded to share with me his journey and all the failures and unwise decisions that he had made along the way. In short, he was "Christian" in name only but otherwise empty, joyless, and certainly powerless to overcome his circumstances. He has represented a growing number of people that I have met over the past year that could be his spiritual clone. Why? Why is it that someone, as a new believer, can be so filled with zeal and radiant with joy and power, to only become a spiritual nomad, wandering the church landscape trying to recapture something that was once there but now seems so out of reach? I believe that there is a way to eradicate the scourge of " impotent faith" from the spiritual landscape. It is found in the building of a "spiritual infrastructure" in the heart and soul of a new believer; it is commonly known as "Building a Heart of Discipleship."

A writer once said that " Most unhappy people in the world are not unbelievers but "unsalty" Christians; In other words those who have enough of the truth implanted within to not renounce faith, but not enough power to forge ahead. Without a Heart of Discipleship becoming central to our every day existence, we stand in danger of becoming a spiritual casuality like so many that once had great futures but now languish in spiritual obscurity. Where am I headed with all of this?

High Mill was birthed in 1974 with the vision of building, training, and sending forth young leaders into a world so desperate for spiritual leadership. Through the years, we have succeeded as well as failed in our commitment to " steady the course" and stay true to that calling. Yet, through many joys and tears, blessings and pain, we have been birthed for this moment in history. As part of a larger "Kingdom Vision" involving many other Godly leaders and followers, we have spent, as leaders the past two years fasting and praying about God's direction for this new decade of the 21st century.

We haven't come up with a "new" plan or concept but have been revived by a fresh commitment to our original vision: "Building Disciples. Living and Loving Like Jesus." Our desire is not a new "campaign" with flashy promos but a profound desire to seek out those who have an old fashioned hunger and passion to produce mature fruit; a passion that is so focused that it won't give up until the job is done.

For the next six weeks, we will be sharing with you who are part of this wonderful body of believers, not so much where we have come from but where we are and most of all, vision wise, where we are headed. We won't be satisfied until every leader and ministry in our church clearly understands what our mission as a church is and focus's it's passion and energy on that mission, building Biblically strong models that can produce lasting spiritual fruit.

Most of you attending High Mill, know where our strengths lie, but what would happen if each of us as leaders intentionally focused our energies and giftings, like a Lazar, on bringing together all of our good efforts under the umbrella of not just serving but intentionally producing radical models of discipleship,( Radical Models of Jesus' Love) while we serve? Come the next six weeks, and we are going to show you how! By the way, if you don't attend a church, you are welcome to jump on board for an exciting experience that just might change the direction of your life FOREVER!

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