I'm not alone in appreciating the masterful parables of Jesus!

And, as you know, many of them relate to farming or agriculture.

Ever wondered why?

I've heard many sermons attempt to explain Jesus' use of farming and agriculture as fitting to His time and place. He was speaking to farmers, right?

Well not exactly...

Sure, the people Jesus spoke to would have been familiar with farming, sowing and reaping, etc. But a huge group of His listeners weren't farmers. Jesus spoke to a wide variety of people: farmers, fishermen, the rich, the poor, roman soldiers, etc...

It goes deeper than Jesus being relevant to His audience.

Take the parable of the sower for instance...you know it but here's the text:

³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.⁶ But when the...

I hear this lament ALL the time from pastors, "Our people just won't invite!"

Well buckle up buttercup because I'm here to help.

People are fairly simple. They'll swim seas and climb mountains for what they truly value, the thing that's important to them...

I remember the days leading up to Christmas just a few years ago...there was a particular video game console that was in limited supply. Stores were only getting 1 or 2 units and people were snapping them up as soon as they hit the shelves. On Black Friday, people were lining up by the hundreds outside in the cold...spending the night even...just for a chance at the coveted prize...

Most left empty handed - only to rush across town to wait in another line...

Might seem crazy...but it illustrates an important truth: people will do almost anything to get what they really want.

Now back to your church.

The answer is easy and the fix is simple.

But we need to take some tough medicine first...

The real reason your...

A friend posted the following on Facebook and I thought it might encourage you today:

Excerpts from John Wesley's Journal
Great Awakening mid 1700's:

May 5 - Preached at St. Anne’s, asked not to come back
May 12 - Preached, deacons said I couldn’t return
May 19 - Preached on street, kicked off street
May 26 - Preached in meadow, chased out by a bull
May 26 - Preached on edge to town, kicked off the highway.
June 2 - Preached in a pasture. Ten thousand came to hear me.

John Wesley, Journal Entries, 1739

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Reminds me of the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed...try, try again."

That's how ministry works.

We preach, serve, love people, and on and on...often resulting in failure and rejection.

But we push on because we're ON A MISSION.

And don't you ever forget it.

This isn't time to draw back...it's time to push forward. It's time to be challenged in our thinking. It's time to level-up as a leader and learn how to reach THIS generation in this time and season....