Here am I. Send me!

Greetings in the Name of our Lord,

I love watching the Olympics. As a teen, I would dream of being on the field of competition competing at the highest level. My playing days are long gone, but the Olympics still stir in me the passion for excellence and the lessons that come from the games. 

One of the most important “small” lessons I learned early is to stand as close to the coach as possible during practice or a game. When I was in junior high, our family moved each year. As a new kid, I had to prove myself with the coaches in my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade years. My father encouraged me to stand as close to the coach as possible, because there would always be times in every practice or game when a substitute would be needed. You would be surprised how many times the coach would turn looking for a replacement, see me, and send me in to fill the position. Standing close to the coach works so much better than sulking on the bench. 

This applies to our spiritual life as well. The closer we are to our Lord, the more “in tune” we are to the ways of God. The closer we walk with our Lord, the closer we are to the blessings and direction that come from God. 

For this reason, I am passionate about developing growing disciples of Jesus Christ. Dwight L. Moody once said, "God always uses the person closest to him." Our walk with Christ grows deeper and adds meaning to our lives when we do the following: worship each week, involve ourselves in weekly transformational biblical and spiritual groups, and do daily personal Bible study and prayer. 

Growing the children, youth, and adult discipleship areas was one of the consistent themes in our Summer Listening Tour – Making Stonebridge UNSTOPPABLE. My goal is to lead an initiative to increase the number of weekly small group experiences for all ages and to increase the opportunities for Sunday morning groups and classes. My goal is to seasonally integrate the sermons I preach in our Sunday worship into the weekly study life of our church. This fall season, through September and October, I will be doing a deep dive into the “Lord’s Prayer” as we integrate the study into our weekly groups. 

Isaiah heard God say, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And Isaiah responded, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

God is asking the same question today. He's looking for those who are close and ready. When God is searching the sidelines for someone to take the field, I want to be standing close to God. Very few ever get the chance to participate in the Olympics, much less win a medal, but all of us can be ready for God's call.

See you Sunday. I’ll be dealing with Luke 4:4-8. Luke shares with us Jesus’ parable of the sower. It is probably the first parable Jesus told in his ministry. This ancient parable continues to have a message for us every day. 

God Bless,

Pastor John Allen