A few years ago I served in a position at the global ministry center for the Church of the Nazarene.  One day a consultant visited our department.  He asked us as a group, what business are you in?  Most of us bristled at the question, we are not in business, we are ministers of the Gospel, we are not in business!  He stated emphatically, You’re in a business, You are in the HOPE business!  Our world is short on hope and you are here to offer hope!  You may feel inadequate my friends, but if you are a Christian, you have a hope! In fact the only thing we can offer anyone is hope!  The problem is hope is not what people hear from our lips, it is mostly ‘nope’ that they hear.  Nope we can’t do that, nope we aren’t big enough to do that, nope that will never happen here etc. Drop the nope and grab on to hope!

God has given us a vision on the Indy District to reach the 22 counties that is our mission field.  We must find effective and creative ways to reach our communities.  Pastor Rusty Mobley is one of our new start pastors.  He is an auto mechanic by trade and he uses the building where his shop is to also serve as worship space for Restoration Pointe Church. His shop and the new start are on the south side of Indianapolis.  Keep Rusty and his family and Restoration Pointe in your prayers.  I am asking God to give us more women and men who will faithfully and fearlessly answer God’s call to make a Kingdom difference!

I will be highlighting the various ministries of the Indianapolis District Church of the Nazarene in the next few weeks.  Over 1 million people in our 22 counties do not know Jesus.  We are seeking ways to engage with our communities.  I am asking God to lay the burden to start a new church on the hearts of dozens of people.  We cannot offer you much but a place of service, our prayers and our love and encouragement.  God gave me a vision a couple of years ago to help start 75 new congregations!  In the human this is impossible!  But I read that nothing is impossible with God!

Prayer is the key:  we need the power of God in order to fulfill the great commission.  We need His power to love our neighbors as ourselves!  We need His power to give us heavenly doses of compassion for the hurting and broken that are all around us!  We need a revival of hearing His Word and His power to move out of our comfort zone and safe spaces and out into the community.  God is moving!   Pray for us, I am asking God to raise up a large group of  leaders who will assist us with the vision to reach the lost people in central, east central, and southeastern Indiana.

God deliver us from small dreams, and the spirit of criticizing and back-biting, and self-absorption and selfishness that pervades our world.  Let us be the crowd that lifts up our eyes to the hills from where our help comes from, our help comes from the Lord! He is a big God who loves people, all people and wants us to reflect His love.  Here in Indianapolis we are about the mission.  We need new churches, revitalized churches, churches on purpose for God!   Let’s go,   Are you in?

Pastor Rusty Mobley

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