On August 31, 2007, when asked about the 2006 incident where climbers had to choose between realizing their dreams or saving the injured, Sir Edmund leaned forward with fire in his eyes and rasped, "Save the man!" (Quotes from article by David Mohan on Winning the Second Billion Together web site.)
Often in the church of today, we think of big crowds, a lot of excitement, and the expectation of a good show — a mountain top experience. Yet what is so simple, yet profound, is that the important part of this church equation must be the people — each person — that has come seeking Jesus.
If I had to state the core values of our church, they would simply be, Jesus, the Bible, and people. We know that we can't have this "attract the crowd" mentality alone. We have to think of individual people. We need to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Statistics have proven over and over that most people come to Jesus because of personal contact with another believer. Someone cared enough to spend time with a person, talk about their faith in Christ, and invite them to church, an evangelistic event, or a Bible study about Jesus.
This outreach mentality means dong outreach intentionally.
Then the master said to the servant, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled" (Luke 14:23 NKJV).
What are you doing to reach and disciple another person? Jesus wants our lives to be about people, but this passion can't be general: it must be specific. Think about one person who doesn't know Jesus. Think about a person who is hurting, or alone. Think about one person who used to attend your church, but doesn't now. It's not just about crowds. It's not just about the mountain top experience. It's about "people" — one at a time, you and me reaching out to them in the name of Jesus with the grace of Jesus.
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