Learning

So, I wasn't able to stay connected well yesterday, because Gwinnett Center is this HUGE metal building and when you go into those rooms, they're like a cave where nothing gets in. Today's plan is different. Instead of trying to live blog — I'll take notes and when I get out of a session, I'll drop them into a post. 

To continue yesterday's notes, though: 

In "Doing Good" I heard Charles Lee talk about the ministries God has led him to create or be a part of. Simple things that make great impact. 

Consider The Freeze Project. People are gathered in a public place, life is going on as usual, then all of a sudden a number of those people just stop. No movement, no change, just stop. For five minutes. Five long minutes. When that time is done, and people are starring at them, watching for what the heck is going on, they hand them literature — stories — about slavery that is going on in our world right now. The really cool thing he mentioned about this is that the greatest impact is upon those who "froze". 

There was much more, but the biggest takeaway from that session was this: If you want to help people, don't assume you know what they need. Go into their neighborhood, hear them. Ask them questions. Find out what they feel is their greatest need, then go do something about that. 

Laundry Love — spending time in a laundromat in an impoverished area and drop a few quarters into the machines for people while you visit with them. Just be a friend. 

Trash cans can make a difference. Challenge people to buy a wastebasket for their home, then fill it with things people might need. (Do your research first.) Then, when it's full, YOU take it to the place where the need is. Grab your family and YOU take it. 

We are called to be the influence in this place we live. It's not our home, we need to stop trying to be comfortable in it. (Ouch!) When you take on a mission, be ready to answer the question, "Why do you do what you do?" 

One of the greatest statements I heard was, "We don't expect to be a big church, we do expect to have a big impact."

Leroy Barber talked about how we seek out our job, money & finances and God says to us, "You go after this job and finances when I have WORK for you to do that fits the VOCATION I have for you that fulfills the CALL I have on your life." How many times do we miss that because we're focused on the wrong place? 

Lisa Sharon Harper shared a great truth: pursuing a passion means a lot of cost. Not just finances, but life itself. To be involved in a ministry or a movement that makes a lasting and sustainable difference, we need to know going in that it's going to cost us our lives. Not meaning that we will die as a result, though for some that may be the case, but we will give our lives over to that passion. 

We need to be asking our churches this question: Jesus told us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What does God's Kingdom on earth look like in ___________ (insert your city/community name here.)

Well, that's not all of the Lab takeaways, but I have to get ready for a new day of hearing from God. Today I will hear from Andy Stanley and Rob Bell and Tuny Dungy among others. Best of all, I will be able to hear God through their voices. 

I encourage anyone who reads these words, if you're a follower of Christ, don't be satisfied with just living, with being comfortable where you are. We weren't designed or chosen for that. Find out, look for it — your purpose. Your reason why God died for you, then go and pursue that with a passion. Never give up! He called you. He'll show you. Ask. Seek. Knock. 

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