Sunday, November 6, 2011

A Burdened Heart


This Friday evening, I had the privilege of attending Secret Church at Brook Hills.
It was honestly seven of the greatest hours I have spent during my college career.
But the events that transpired after Secret Church have had the most profound impact on my life.

The day after Secret Church rolled around and I began to process all that I had learned the night before.
I agreed to nanny for a family going out of town later in the day, and I felt so burdened to put the Word into action, as Pastor Platt had challenged us to do throughout Secret Church.

Yet, the enemy caused me to question how this could be done with young girls.
The topics we covered were heavy: marriage, sex, homosexuality, polygamy, etc.
Not issues you want to bring up with children.
That is, if you have any intention of continuing as their nanny.

Nonetheless, from the moment I walked in the door, I felt so burdened to share my heart with them.
Not knowing how to proceed, the Lord blessed me with open doors of opportunity.

The girls began to share about how they hadn’t ever really gone to church and when they had, they thought it was worse than school because it was so boring and you couldn’t even talk.

My heart broke.
The Gospel is intriguing,
The Bible is arguably the best ‘story book’ of all time,
But children are neglected in the Church.
Their potential is overlooked
And therefore their Church experience is nothing more than non-engaging and boring.

Our God is creative, unique, beautiful, captivating, personal, and worthy of being portrayed as all of the above and so much more!

I began to tell them about my faith family here, and what we had done just the night before.
When they asked why we studied the Bible for so long,
I explained the correlation between that and the underground churches across the world.

One of the girls, who is almost in high school, got wide eyed and said, “people are killed for going to church?”

In turn, I got wide eyed, because she had never heard, but more importantly, because of the realization that I assume everyone knows, that everyone has heard.

But friend, that is far from the reality.
Just as these girls had never heard that there are places in this world that people cannot worship or express their faith freely,
They had never heard of the Gospel.

There are 302 churches within driving distance of their home.
Yet they had never heard.
What is the church if not a beacon of light for the saving power of the Gospel?

In light of what I have learned this weekend,
Never assume that anyone already knows.
Please, for the sake of their eternity!
Redundancy should not be our concern; fear cannot be a hindering factor.

So no, I did not get into the ins and outs of Biblical divorce or abortion with these precious girls, but it is my prayer that at least a seed was planted in their hearts.

Plant a seed today, and in faith know that the Lord will cultivate that seed. 

1 comment:

  1. Amen. I wasn't able to go to secret church, but I have been ruminating on what you've said for a while now. You also cannot let fear of not knowing what to say keep you from sharing the gospel. Sometimes even our friends are people who have not come to know the Lord. But God can use anything you bring to the table. He cannot use your silence. By staying silent in order to keep your friend, you could end up loving your friend to hell.

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