I found the following in the back of a Journal after I was informed that someone in the community called us “Sheep Stealers.” It got me thinking…How does someone steal sheep? How do I go about stealing other church members and forcing them to attend Lifepoint?? Let me clarify, the mission of lifepoint has always been to point people to life.
It has been our goal to reach people who do not know Jesus and point them to a relationship with Him. We have never hid out in other church parking lots and then kidnapped their members…It sounds fun though…just kidding.
Being called a sheep stealer got me to thinking…What if they had a college course called “Sheep Stealing 101.”
I think the curriculum would look like this:
Sheep Stealing 101
- Have a compelling vision and share it frequently.
- Emphasize Excellence.
- Keep it Simple Stupid.
- Put the cookies on the bottom shelf.
- Feed them Sheep food.
just my random thoughts.
Hmmmm. Sheep food. Like mama’s milk for the little new born lambs….nice tender shoots and green wet grass for the younger sheep…..and the tougher, harder to swallow roots and tubers for the big rams and ewes. Is that it sort of? LOL! Great thoughts pastor! Keep seeking………..Love ya!
Jeff,
I met you at the ARC CPR last December. Loved your blog today. I think the thing that often comes to my mind when I hear about this sheep stealing stuff is an underlying message that people are property of a particular ministry, church or even pastor. I think we need to value people more than that…people aren’t property, they are living and breathing creations of God.
Steve
Sheep Stealing? Sounds like displaced anger from another sheep stuck in the barbed wire. I have some snips!
[...] One final thought on this. I am aggressively trying to go after those who have no church home. I’m attempting to become all things to all people so that some might come to know Christ. I use mass mailing, modern worship, an awesome location, and everything else the Lord brings to us in order to promote the saving message of risen Christ. I am not ashamed that this has caused some to leave their existing church because I know this was never our intent at thebridge. If we set out to market Christians from other churches that would be wrong. That is not we have done. I think Jeff Kapusta says it well here. [...]