Is it God or is it Racquetball?

To say that our services yesterday were awesome would be an understatement. What a wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit could be felt in the place. I am so thankful for the faithfulness of God and his people.

As I was reading this morning, I came across this quote and was just wondering how some of you would respond to it. "The effectiveness of our preaching is not measured by how enamored they are with our preaching or how stellar we are in our capacity to communicate, but rather in whether or not their lives are more like Christ today than they were six months ago." Joseph M. Stowell - Shepherding the Church into the 21st Century (By the way pastors I highly recommend this book!) As pastors sometimes we struggle with knowing the effectiveness of our ministry, ie. Preaching, teaching, counseling, soul-wining, discipleship, etc. As I read this quote it stirred me to think that our
number one objective must be to see lives transformed by the gospel and not by the program.

How many churches today have great programs like softball, golf, exercise, weight loss, quilting, bowling, and the list goes on and on, but yet their people have no foundational knowledge or truth of who Christ is or what He has to say about living your life?

From the Doonesbury comic strip Comes this portrayal of today's church. The parish rector of the Little Church of Walden is discussing the focus of his church with a prospective couple.
The Pastor asks, "So what would you like to know about Little Church of Walden, folks? Don't hold back--I know how difficult it can be to choose a church."
The interested husband responds, "well, what's your basic approach here, Reverend? Is it traditional gospel?"
"In a way, I like to describe it as a 12-step Christianity. . . . Basically, I believe that we're all recovering sinners. My ministry is about overcoming denial, it's about re-commitment, about redemption. It's all in the brochure there."
The pastor's response stimulates the wife's interest, and she queries, "Wait a minute --sinners? Redemption? Doesn't all that imply . . . Guilt?"
To which the pastor responds, "Well, yes, I do rely on the occasional disincentives to keep the flock from going astray. Guilt's part of that!"
The husband responds, "I dunno. there's so much negativity in the world as it is." And his wife chimes in, "That's right. We're looking for a church that's supportive, a place where we can feel good about ourselves. I'm not sure this guilt thing works for us."
The husband observes, "On the other hand, you do offer racquetball . . ." To which his wife responds, "So did the Unitarians, honey. Let's Shop around some more." Gary B Trudeau, Doonsbury. Universal Press Syndicated, 1993

We must believe this, that, "greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4)