It's Easy to Miss the Point

Ok. So today is good Friday and this is the first one in 10 years that I haven't been on the pastoral staff of a church. It's weird. Because usually around this time of year I'm in meetings planning for the "busiest church day of the year." Whether it's planning a Community Easter Eggstravaganza (Easter Carnival), sitting in creative meetings helping brainstorm the Easter program, helping with dramas, editing video, putting together invite cards, making sure ushers, greeters and parking lot volunteers are scheduled, locating all our chairs for overflow seating and the list goes on and on. But not this year.

The reason I'm even thinking about this is because I just finished reading my 2nd or 3rd email from different ministries that were wanting to help me reach all the extra people that are going to be coming through the doors of my church. One of the emails was wanting to show me how to retain them and get them to come back. Strategies... Plans... Programs. That's been my life for the last decade. But this year I get to attend a service with my family as a participant and not a programmer. I actually get to sit back and just soak-in all the worship, the message, the "real reason" for this time of year. Jesus.

As Christ Followers, this is the time of year that should be a celebration. A time of remembrance of what God did through the blood of His son for us. But I think as church leaders we've viewed this time of year as a time to reach people who normally won't come to church any other time of the year. And by focusing solely on that part, we've missed the opportunity to celebrate "personally" the fact that we have relationship with God because of the cross of Christ. It's like we've put more emphasis on the "reaching the extra people in our pews" that we've neglected the personal part of Easter... the part where we personally take time to reflect and worship God with our families for what He did for us.

I know I'm not the only one who's guilty of this either. All of my friends are on church staffs and we talk. This is such an important time of year for us and we need to capitalize on reaching people that won't come to church any other time of the year. We do. But not at the expense of our own personal experience with God. I don't know where the balance is and how to achieve it. I just know that something has to be different. I think, because of wanting to reach the masses, I've missed out on the personal side of Easter.

I'm very passionate about the local church. I want her to grow and thrive. I want to see the local church retain the masses that will be coming through her doors over the next 3 days. I want to see people's lives changed because of the Spirit of God that will be present within her 4 walls. I want all of this. But, even more than that, my prayer for me and my family (and for you) this Easter season is this... "that with all our planning and preparation we won't miss the point and that we'll have a personal encounter with Jesus this weekend." Because it's all about Him, right? All praise be to Jesus.

Feliz Páscoa,

Jim