Are there any wordpress bloggers out there that attended this years Summit; either from Willow Creek or from one of the many satelite locations around the world. This was my first year. My son and I went.
There’s a lot to process, but the Lord has me thinking about the man, the message, the faith of Stephen Furtick, and a comment that was made about him by one of the other speakers. If you heard Furtick’s message, you know about digging trenches.
The other speaker who commented had been digging trenches for 35 years to alleviate hunger around the world. His comment about Furtick was the assurance that his (Furtick’s) generation, because of their great faith in God to do the impossible, would eradicate it.
When I started my latest series, A Journey of Faith, I didn’t have it all laid out. It is litterally a journey. As I learn, I write. As the Lord shows me things I wrestle them out and then I write.
Is it possible that while we want to see miracles, God is wanting to see the hungry fed? Has God just brought me to a major intersection in my journey, giving me the opportunity to get on the same road He is on? I would expect that I’ll be wrestling this out over the next little while.
Anyway, GLS attendees, if your out there I would especially like to hear from you. But also to any, if this strikes a chord with you, I would like to know your thoughts.
Hunger and Thirst 
Jesus did miracles and fed the hungry. He also said, “The things I do you shall do and greater because I go to my Father.”
So, why not do both?
Maybe a bit of overcorrection, but a good point to be reminded of. Thank you. It was good to be made mindful of the other too. It’s funny how we can block some things out and be okay with it. But God has a gracious way of confronting us, without beating us over the head, and stirs us to want to do.
But what to do. What can one individual do? That was part of the message of the conference. You do what you can. You take one step and then another. I have to believe that if God gave me the thought, He must know something that I don’t yet know.
And so I will keep praying for His guidance while doing my best to act on what I already know. Eradicating hunger was not the emphasis of the conference; it was a tiny segment. But it wasn’t even the segment that got me. It was a comment between segments that had I just been a minute or two later getting to my seat, I would have missed.
So great that you were there, Mike. And with your son. 🙂
Here are just a couple of things that came to me. One is this . . .what if feeding the hungry IS the miracle you are wanting to see? The more you shared in the comment above, it does not sound like just a stray thought. 🙂 I’m excited for where your journey is taking you.
Another thing is something that I heard recently, a sermon on giving. I don’t know if it is anything that you would like to hear, or goes along with this for sure, but will try to find the link and share it.
Also, another blogger recently did a short video on giving and how if we all lived like that, we could alleviate world hunger. ! Just kind of bizarre that I then read this from you.
God bless you, Mike, and thanks for cluing us in on what’s going on!
I think Larry’s point was good. You know the emphasis to my believing God for the miraculous has been associated more with healing. As much as I hate to have to admit it, and in spite of as much as I try to supress it so that I don’t have to admit it, there is still this very small part that want’s to see miracles so that I feel like I count with God and the worst part is the tiny part that wants to count with others. And yet still, in spite of the wrong motive that won’t completely let go, I continue to try for the right motive which is to see people in need receive what only God can do.
Somehow the combination of shifting my believing to those who are hungry, willing to let go of those who need healing, Larry’s comment brought me back; and the coolest part is that it is somehow now free of the wrong motive. And so this morning I was able to pray for Aubrey again. It was different this time. It was almost like, Lord before I move on to this other, could we clean this issue up?
I appreciate your comment and the link you sent to the Robert Morris video. Sheila and I really like him.
I had a thought a few months ago that I decided to sit on because I felt it was too idealistic – unrealistic – to even mention. But, is it really? Writing something like that off . . . is it not like saying, “God, You can’t do that”.
This new stirring has brought the thought back to the surface. And in light of the ‘audacious faith’ associated with it, I see it differently. Sure I can’t make it happen, but is it too hard for God. Could God not move on people in such a way as to make them want to do it? Do we keep great things from happening just because we can’t see how they could happen. Is there not an element of faith in God to see even an idea become a reality?
What if corporations, instead of producing quarterly reports of profit, would produce quarterly reports showing how many starving people they were able to feed? How many shelters they were able to provide? How many wells they put in?
Sorry God; for my lack of faith. You who can do all things, I pray that some will catch the vision of the difference their company could make toward the meeting of the most basic of human needs. May we who have much, share with those who have little. May our excess be used to meet their need.
The Lord uses extremists to help pull the Body of Christ back to the middle of the path. For example, Mother Teresa was a great example of a person foregoing everything and helping the poor, but we average Christians can’t totally follow her example. We have families and obligations. Yet, her message causes us to have a desire to help the poor and thus we are moved out of our ditch of selfishness.
Other extremists have been Hudson Taylor, Charles Finney, Smith Wigglesworth. Each extremist helped to change the Body of Christ and move them out of their ditches.
But no matter what you do, it will take strong faith.
Mike, what if you are called to be an extremist? What if you – because of your faith can help starving people – by multiplying fish and loaves? And then, teach them how to do it themselves?
I know this sounds far fetched, but if you don’t dream outside the box, you will never get there.
I like the sound of that. The next time my wife gives me her ‘balance’ speach, I’ll say, But Larry said . . .
That’s funny. Just don’t let her talk to my wife because I wouldn’t your wife to learn too much too early in your “extremist” career.
We’ll try to keep it amongst ourselves.