After having been a pastor for some thirty five years, I have come to the conclusion that The Body of Christ, for the most part, has lost the vision of truly reaching the lost and hurting of our world. For years I have spent my time promoting programs, activities, and strategies to build my local church and with some success. Yet at the end of the day I found most of that growth had only been focused on those who already attend church somewhere. I believe one of the greatest dis-services to the Body of Christ and believers as a whole, and what will be the greatest hindrance to the work of the Kingdom in the future, is the present intense campaign of churches all over this nation marketing people who already attend church instead of equipping the saints to win the lost to Jesus. We are growing churches but for the most part, we are not winning the lost. This spirit of the corporate world, and I believe it is a spirit not of God, has spread across this country to the point that most churches are caught up in marketing and maintaining a congregation of church folks with little impact on the lost and hurting of their community. A large congregation is built at the expense of other churches and competition between local congregations, which is an ungodly force, is fierce. For that reason a real encounter with God and spiritual discipleship is lost in the pomp and circumstance just to build a large congregation. The results of this movement, has produced as much need in the lives of people in the local church as in the world. For this reason, I believe the church of our culture is not spiritually equipped to handle the needs of this present society. It is much easier to grow a church with people who are already saved than reach the unsaved. But it is much harder to keep a congregation of church people than producing sons and daughters who have been set free and discipled by the love and light of God in us as a church! Huge budgets are channeled toward facilities and programs to keep and attract other Christians with very little money left to really win and disciple the lost!
For me, my thinking changed when God allowed my entire life and local church to be
devastated. In my long dark night that lasted some eight years I finally came to the understanding of the true purpose and mission of the Body of Christ; but I found myself ill prepared to do anything about it. Jesus was clear when He gave the great commission:
Matthew 28:19 NLT
19 Therefore. go and make disciples of all the nations. baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus never called us to grow churches with people who are already saved, but He called us to mobilize the saints to build His kingdom through winning and discipling the lost!
Through the vision of my son Spence who had been raised in the church but who had been turned off by all the church fluff, as he calls it, The Lazarus Project was birthed. Before he recommitted his life to God Spence was heavy into drugs, but in 1996 he had a miraculous encounter with God and immediately began to receive a vision from the Lord for our church, that I must admit I was not very interested in at first. Spence told me, "Dad we will never reach this generation if the church of this culture continues on its present course."
Finally as a last resort, I agreed to let him begin what he was feeling, and he accepted two young men, taking them with him wherever he went for one year. He mentored them, birthed them into the kingdom of God and discipled them. One of these precious young men is now serving as our Lazarus Project Program Manager; he is truly a son of the house.
After the first year we began to accept those who were on drugs, alcohol, and other issues into our church. housing, feeding, teaching, and loving them into the kingdom of God; but some in our congregation were very uncomfortable with this and left the church. However, we continued and little by little the guys in what we called The Lazarus Project and the ladies in The Esther Project began to change our church and cause us to become acquainted again with the real need of our present society and our responsibility, our call from God to do something about it! Calls began to come in. and much to our surprise the needs were great, many of which were in churches, as the word spread. After four years we have graduated over 25 men and women from these programs. And after thirty five years of ministry I can honestly say the last four years has been the most rewarding I have ever experienced! We now have programs in three states as well as Sierra Leone. West Africa with plans to open more in the U.S. and in India.
Pastor if you want to transform your church as well as your people, and make an impact in your community we would be happy to help you get one or both of these programs started in your area. Jesus said:
Matthew 9:12b
12 ."Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."
We live in a desperate society; filled with hurting people searching for an answer. May The Body of Christ rise up and become their answer.
Pastor R. Mike Creasy
Senior Pastor: The Carpenter's House Church
