...That Any Should Perish

2nd Peter 3:9 (KJV) reads:  "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  The phrase "not willing that any should perish" has been resonating with me the last few weeks.  It was a phrase that one of the speakers at the AG Network Conference talked about.

Today, Josh, Jeremy and I had an opportunity to have lunch with that man; the Rev. Dr. Zollie L. Smith Jr.  Zollie is the Executive Director of the Assemblies of God U.S. Missions.

It was a huge honor to be invited to have lunch with Zollie and his lovely wife, Phyllis.  Zollie has an amazing life story, a story of the mercy and grace of God.  I enjoyed listening to him share his heart this afternoon.  As Executive Director of U.S. Missions for the AG, which is the denomination our church and I am associated with, Zollie coordinates church plants at the national level; as such being a part of a church plant here in Seattle, we were excited at the opportunity to meet with him.

Zollie was asked at lunch what his plans were to tackle U.S. Missions (an appointment he recently assumed).  Once again, he brought up the mandate we have and one the Jesus was passionate about, that He was not willing that any should perish.  That is our mission in here, in this life - to share the love of Christ with people who are disconnected from Him.  Another thing that Zollie encouraged us to do was to constantly be praying and be basically "prayed up."  We are not going to accomplish much with out spending time with God in prayer - we would start to rely on ourselves to be creative and achieve things.

Yet another thing that Zollie brought up today really struck my mind today, and it had to do with building a consumer church.  I was reminded about how easily it is to get side tracked by making church pleasing for everyone.  We worry that the people who have come to the church and have started giving their finances, will become disgruntled if we don't "please" them with our Sunday "presentations" and they leave, then what?  I was encouraged again to keep doing what we do; striving to reach the disconnected, providing hope in Jesus.  We are not here to entertain, we have a command to make Jesus known.  I hear accounts of churches that have developed into these "consumer" churches or churches that are heading that direction and it saddens me.  There is so much more important things to do, things with eternal consequences and values attached to it.

I am definitely fired up again after hearing some of the things that Zollie shared with us today.  I am excited and humbled at the same time to be able to work with quality people like Josh & Jeremy (and the team at LATR and my friends at CP) because we all share the same desire to see people changed by the love of Christ.

I am not sure why I have been having such encounters with different people, people who are leaders and are inspiring and people who need Jesus desperately; but I have a suspicion that God might be a work in my own life.  We'll see how this one goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Phyllis, Zollie, me, Jeremy & Josh

 

It was such a beautiful day in the neighborhood, so us three decided to go for a little stroll in downtown Kirkland.  This was the outcome of our stroll...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy convinced Josh and I, in front of hundreds of people, to "pose" for some pictures and this is what we got.  Josh always wanted to be a cheerleader, so this was his chance.  Fun times!

 

 

 

 

 

The boats were out today on the water and you can see downtown Seattle in the distant background.  A gorgeous day!  And for those of you reading this from distant shores, you have to come for a visit and experience the Pacific Northwest!

This concludes another wonderful, thought provoking, weekend.  Thank you Jesus!