July's time of ministry with Bill Moore was a clarion call for me to revisit the efforts of the "glory days" for our church -- the early years of our new century. From 2001 to 2003 Carpenter's Shop moved with tremendous momentum toward raising up leaders and planting churches. It was an incredible time in our history and today we see the fruit of that momentum played out in the ministries of Upper Room in Gatesville, El taller del Carpintero in Winton, and Inner Banks in South Mills.
Last week was an opportunity for me to scroll back in my ministry mind and ask what it was that moved us to that place. Ultimately, we know the Holy Spirit led us and equipped us to accomplish His design for us. Has he completed all that He desires? Certainly not! Does He still long for us to touch our Jerusalem and beyond with His presence? Absolutely!
Bill Moore challenged me to think about those "divine moments" and desire them deeply again. I remembered the "bridge events" that we did in those days. There were times we bagged groceries and delivered them to the cars for customers at local grocery stores. There were times when we changed oil for the widows and the single parent moms. Put quite simply, we served the people of this town with amazing effect. In one year, we gave away 13 tractor-trailor loads of produce. We served!
Dino Rizzo, Pastor of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Lousiana recently wrote a book called "Servolution" which I had the pleasure to read. "Servolution" is the call to the body of Christ to start a revolution through serving; hence "servolution". Healing Place has moved from a single campus of a few hundred to multi-campuses with numbers to 10,000. God has ignited the church through service. Bill reminded us that it's "service" not "serve us".
I am calling each of us to revisit the spirit of what we knew in those days of momentum. I am committed to building a bridge from Carpenter's Shop Church to our community and ulitmately to our region. We can do it! We will do it. Get yourselves ready, we are going to touch our community with the love of God in a fresh and exciting way. Together, we can build the bridge!
