When God Builds a Church by Bob Russell

Author:Bob Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books
Published: 2000-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

RESULTS OF WALKING BY FAITH

I’ve witnessed some dramatic steps of faith in my thirty-three years of ministry, and I’ve observed that the church that walks by faith realizes four distinct benefits.

Walking by Faith Generates Enthusiasm

Jim Collins, in his book Built to Last, reveals that successful organizations consistently develop what he calls BHAGs. They’re pronounced bee-hags, and the letters stand for Big Hairy Audacious Goals. 3 At Southeast we’ve adapted that idea—we talk about Big Holy Audacious Goals! We want to try something big—something huge and audacious—so that we can show the world that we serve a big God. Bill Beauchamp, who served as our chairman of the board for more than a decade, once said something that became a Southeast slogan: Let’s try something so big that if God isn’t in it, we will fail.

Big goals create excitement. Our hearts beat faster as we wonder together what the future might hold. We begin to wonder aloud, Can we do this? Or better still, Can God do it through us? The enthusiasm mounts as we near the goal. Everyone wants to be a part of accomplishing something that’s never been done before.

Last year a leader in our church had a vision for mission involvement. We decided to start a program called “2000 in 2000” designed to encourage two thousand church members to commit to serving in a local mission or going on a short-term mission trip in the year 2000. That was a huge goal! We have fourteen thousand members, but that’s including young people, college students, busy moms and dads, the elderly, and almost three thousand people who haven’t even been a part of our congregation for more than a year! Asking for two thousand people to sacrifice their most prized possession—their time—is a BHAG!

Yet as I’m writing this, more than fourteen hundred people have already committed to being among the two thousand, and the entire church is buzzing about the project. People are excited about what God will do in the future because a few visionary people decided to walk by faith!

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