Pastors Blog

Nine juvenile offenders listened intently recently as I told them that they could “see the kingdom” if they were born again.

They had lots of guesses about what “see the kingdom” meant—heaven, going to church, Jesus, etc. Most of the guesses had to do with religious activities or the afterlife.

I believe that we can see the kingdom of God in the here and now only through being born again. I believe that when we see the kingdom of God in our own time and place we are seeing the world as it truly is. God is at work all around us, and we can see that divine work once we have been born again through his Spirit.

We participate in the kingdom by proclaiming the good news of God’s love and forgiveness and by expressing God’s love through good works. Words and deeds go together to present the truth of Christ. Jesus was mighty in word and deed, and we want to be mighty in both as well.

Our church is oriented toward the needy and the lost. We reach out to them in every way we can. We deploy almost daily into our community in a variety of ways: feeding the hungry, tutoring at-risk students, visiting the juvenile detention center, preaching in the open air, teaching English to immigrants, and providing food in back-packs for school children at risk of hunger over the weekends.

This week we are coordinating 200 volunteers as we paint a local public school in preparation for the fall term. Our Inward Ministry reaches out to entertainers on Bourbon Street. We have built 61 houses in partnership with Habitat. We are serious about blessing this community for Jesus’ sake.

Everyone is invited to help with this good work. The work God does within us as we give of ourselves is part of what we call the Care Effect—the shaping of our soul into the image of God’s Son.