madatchurch.com

As you drive around town, there are 4 billboards that show the website www.madatchurch.com. If you saw the video announcement in your Connection Group, you know that those billboards direct people to a website we set up just for this series of the same name we will start in two weeks .

If you haven't been to the sight and watched the video, please take some time to do that right now. Then, I'll tell you why we're doing this, and what you can do to be a part of what God is doing at FBC.

Okay, here's why we're doing it. God wants us to take the message of the gospel to people who don't know it. Some people don't know it because they had a bad experience with church, so they quit and haven't come back. Some people don't have a personal experience with church, but someone they know or love did, and it was bad, so they are not interested in church. Some people have seen the abuses and excesses of churches, and have turned away. Meanwhile, Jesus calls the church His body, His flock, and His bride, so the church is important to Jesus.

So we want to take time during the Easter season to say

1. church hasn't always gotten stuff right,
   
2. Jesus loves people, and
   
3. because Jesus loves us, we can do church better.

What you can do to help is simple, but very, VERY important:

1. PRAY. Pray for folks to be intreagued enough to take the risk to be here, and pray that we can say what God wants us to say in a way they can hear and understand.
   
2. INVITE. Use this as an opportunity to ask someone who has told you they have a problem with church, they are done with the 'church thing,' or they are just angry about church or church people. Risk big, because we are risking big all together on this. You can't lose: if they're already mad at church, it won't make it any worse, but if God gets ahold of them, anything is possible.
   
3. SEND QUESTIONS OUR WAY. If someone asks you a question that you can't answer, direct them to the office: office@fbcpoky.com or 232-6305. Don't feel like you have to defend this, or explain this beyond where you're comfortable. Giving directions and service times okay with you, then do that, but don't feel like you have to unpack this whole thing for folks. I would be happy to work thru people's questions or concerns. You just encourage them to come and hear for themselves.

We have been praying about this for months, working thru the details and waiting to see what God will do, but we have no idea what will happen now that this is live, so pray, invite and send 'em to us, and we'll see what God does next.

Yes, this is a big risk we're taking, but it's for the sake of people who are far from God, and we serve a God who risked big for us by sending His Son, so we want to follow His lead. I can't wait to see what happens, and what comes next!