By far the most entertaining speaker of the entire R12 conference was Miles McPherson. When he was being introduced they said he was running late and had to find an alternate form of transportation to the conference. They then rolled footage of him taking a ride in a Fighter Jet!
Miles then took the stage and began to tell us a bit about himself. He talked about how he was an NFL player doing coke (not the soda), smoking marijuana, chasing (and running from) women. He was not even remotely close to having a relationship with Jesus.
One day while on a flight with his teammates one of his coaches was holding a Bible study on the plane. For one reason or another, Miles sat in and got to hear the Gospel from his coach. It didn’t do much at the time.
Months later after doing coke all night, Miles recounts how he hit rock bottom, and gave his life to Jesus. He was in critical condition, and Jesus was the only solution.
All of the communities that your church is near are in critical condition.
Be a “Do Something” Church
There is not a lack of resources in the church. There is simply a lack of matching the right resources to the right needs. In order to match our resources to the needs of those around us is to do what Jesus did…
4 Things Jesus Did
1. Count
All throughout the Bible you see God counting things.
“God is a numbers freak. He’s Like Einstein.”
In Luke 17:11 we read about the 10 lepers that Jesus meets. After taking everyone through a fun and hilarious lesson in acting like a leper, Miles asks this very pointed question:
“How many lepers are in your community? How many homeless? How many prostitutes? How many convalescents?”
There may not be a way to know the exact number of people, but you can start by knowing the “Symptom Centers”. The places where you will find people with symptoms indicating they have a spiritual ailment. They look something like the following:
- Abortion centers
- Homeless shelters
- Strip clubs
- Adult stores
- Liquor stores
- Convalescent homes
You can go to DoSomethingChurch.org and they have a tool that will help you locate those “Symptom Centers” in your community.
2. Walk
Jesus walked everywhere. He could have sat in the synagogue and said, “Come to me.” But he didn’t. He went to where the people were at.
Stop spending your time figuring out ways you can invite people to church, and start thinking of ways you can meet their needs where they’re at.
Jesus has already purchased this world for himself– so go out and reclaim God’s property.
3. Ask
Go out to places in your community and just ask how you can help. Businesses that your frequent are a good place to start. Just ask if there’s anything they need help with and make sure you tell them that there are no strings attached, you just want to help.
4. Love
When you do all the previous steps, they must all be done in love. Sometimes you will have to love people more than they love themselves. If you ask an alcoholic how you can help him and he says to buy him a 40oz, don’t buy him an 80oz– buy him a meal.
Miles’ Final Thought
Don’t look back and say that you had a church that looked like the following:
- It was a Christian Country Club
- It had more butts in seats than boots on the streets
I hope this provokes you to get out in your communities and do something awesome! Let me know in the comments below the most helpful thing you will take away!
Ryan says
Great book! Highly recommend for any church to read and then to act on!
Our “Do Something” campaign has been life-giving to our community.