There's Always an Opportunity

Well, today, the Lord began to nudge me that maybe the invitation discipline is setting the bar too low. Hear me out, I am not saying that I am giving up my new spiritual discipline of inviting at least one person per day to Kentwood Community Church. However, I am discovering that as I have been more intentional about identifying people to invite to KCC, some of these people might be open to meaningful spiritual conversations. Let me give you an example. Today, I was at KCC because 23 people were participating in an Evangelism 101 training session. I was not facilitating the session, but I was there to support and encourage the facilitator and the participants. During the class, I left to go and refill a couple of water pitchers. As I walked the halls, I knew that either a bridal shower or baby shower was being held in one of the classrooms. I noticed that the party was wrapping up and a gentleman was hanging around in the hallway. On my way to get the water, I thought, hmmm...I wonder if the guy is the groom-to-be or the father-to-be. On the way back, I decided to talk to him. So, I approached him, found out his name, found out that the party was a bridal shower, and found out that the couple is being married at a church building in town that houses a non-Christ-centered congregation. I found out that he and his bride-to-be live out of state but were just in town this weekend for the bridal shower. Well, here was my dilemma. I knew that because they live out of state, an invitation to KCC would not have made sense. However, I wanted to know more about the spiritual beliefs of this man. So, I'm standing there with an evangelistic opportunity that I did not pursue because I felt like I needed to get back to an Evangelism Training class. Ha!!! How ironic. I wish that I could tell you that I stuck around and made the spiritual conversation a priority. But, I didn't. I went back to the class to help equip others to have these sorts of conversations. That's when I began to feel a bit of a conviction to go deeper than just extending invitations.

Later in the evening, after the class had ended, there were four community service workers working with our facilities person to tear down and clean up the classroom. After meeting one of the gentleman, I asked him if he had ever visited this church where he was doing community service. He has never been to KCC for a worship service. As I told him that he should come and check it out, I could tell that he was kind of shrugging his shoulders as if to say, "I'm really not into church. It is not a priority for me." I simply told him, "Hey, consider yourself invited. We would love to see you involved here in some other ways besides doing community service." He responded that he might come and visit the church. We were able to extend our conversation because my ten year old son was with me, and I asked the guy if he had any words of wisdom for my son. He said, "Yeah, stay in school, homie, and get involved in some sports or something." We were able to talk briefly about his crime, the number of hours that he has to do, and the sports that he used to play. I will admit though that once I extended the invitation to KCC, I wasn't paying as close attention to the open door for more meaningful spiritual conversation. Again, how ironic that I just completed a class designed to equip people to engage in meaningful spiritual conversations, yet I missed this open door for a meaningful spiritual conversation. I didn't want to cut into his community service time with a conversation because I didn't think that it would be fair to our facilities person or to the three other community service workers. Because this gentleman has to do 50 hours of community service, I am hopeful that I will see him again during this coming week and probe a bit more regarding his spiritual background. Please pray for more opportunities for me in the days to come.

What did I learn today? There are opportunities all around, and often if our antenna are up to search for opportunities to extend invitations, we can go deeper in the conversation if we pay attention. I pray that God will continue to give me and others many opportunities to share the good news of Christ with people who need to hear about him.

In Christ,
Kyle