by Marty Baker
It’s HARVEST Time
How One Church Is Responding to the Great Commission
M
Y LIFE CHANGED when I for 13 years, and had never been inside of and ignored the needs of the lost. We said
least expected it. It was a a church. My world changed at that we loved lost people, but our actions said
normal day. I arrived at the moment. Intellectually, I knew there were something different.
church office at the regular people in my community who did not go We decided to take the responsibility
time. Everything seemed to to church, but this meeting put me face- of the Great Commission as our own. We
be in order. I was getting ready for my to-face with an unchurched, unsaved per- reshaped our church to be a congregation
regularly scheduled meetings with our son who lived minutes away from our that loves and lives for lost people. We
team when an unexpected visitor walked church. This conversation opened my embraced the fact that lost people matter
through the door. eyes to the harvest that was right in front to God and they ought to matter to the
She seemed to be troubled. She sat in of me. That day, these words of Jesus church. At that time, our congregation
my office and told her story. A few min- came alive in my spirit: “I tell you, open was averaging around 150 people on Sun-
utes into our conversation, she asked me your eyes and look at the fields! They are days. As we opened our heart to lost peo-
what kind of church we were. I told her ripe for harvest” (John 4:35, NIV). ple, they came. This year we are averaging
we are part of the Church of God denomi- 1,700 and have exceeded 2,000 in atten-
nation. She immediately replied, “Oh,
A Refined Vision
dance on several occasions. We have bap-
denomination. I’ve heard of that one.” I God used that unplanned meeting to tized nearly 100 new converts and added
immediately knew she was clueless when help reshape my heart for lost people and them to the church.
it came to Christianity. ultimately refine the vision in our church.
A few minutes later, she Until that time, we had prayed for lost
Being Nice
confessed she was 26 years old, people, but I am not sure we had inten- People often ask me, “What’s the
had lived in our community tionally planned for lost people. We had secret?” There is no secret. God wants to
been busy “doing build His church and He wants to use you
church,” but some- and your congregation to do it. In prayer,
where along the ask God to give you a heart for lost peo-
way we had focused ple. Then, take the second all-important
on our own needs step—be nice to people. I tell our congre-
gation this repeatedly:
Be nice to people.
When you
are nice to
someone,
it creates
an oppor-
tunity for you to form a friendship
with that person. As the friendship
develops, pray that the Lord will give
you an opportunity to have a spiritual
conversation with your new friend. Do
not be pushy, but allow the Spirit of God
to direct you. As you talk, be sensitive to
your friend’s needs and tell them how
God has helped you along the way. Offer
to pray for them. This conversation might
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