A funny thing happened on the way to Basic Training

We've been attending a different church (a new one for us) for about three months, still small (they're all small in our tiny town!). Maybe 50 in regular attendance. We've been going to the adult Sunday school class and we've had some really good fellowship!

Well...we've talked to some folks about witnessing...and we've had some really, really great responses. I gave a copy of "One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" to a guy one Sunday after church...he had read the book cover to cover by Monday evening. It has created a bit of a fervor among a few - so my wife and I decided to ask if they'd like us to lead a WotM Basic Training class.

The first class was supposed to be last Saturday night...we put it together a bit too quick, didn't "advertise" it very much - oops. So we got to the church Saturday night and only three people were there...but it turned out to be just one more God-incidence in my life.

As we soon found out...the Pastor came down ill just that afternoon and had JUST called the Spiritual Life Director shortly before we were supposed to meet for the Basic Training class and said he would not be able to preach on Sunday morning. He had called another alternate pastor and turns out he was out of town that weekend and couldn't preach either.

We got to talking and the two church leaders that showed up for the class were soon turning to ME and saying "Since we didn't get many people to show up for the class...AND since Pastor Jim can't preach tomorrow...can you come up with an kind of sermon/evangelism/conviction class invite to fill the gap and get people motivated about the class and sharing their faith?"

Doh!

Wow...I was pretty astounded...my wife and I looked at each other and said "That would truly be awesome"...

So...for church yesterday my wife and I tag teamed a sermonette of sorts built on our personal testimonies of witnessing, the journey God has brought us through, many pieces of Mark Cahill's and the WotM message...some of the hard sayings of Jesus and Paul, and some convicting video clips.

God lead us each the entire way...it was very much like witnessing in the way the Holy Spirit lead us both. We had notes on the stuff we wanted to cover that we had cobbled together the night before...but I had prayed as an intro to our message "God...I don't want anyone here to hear what I want to say...but what YOU want them to hear...so give us the words and guide us." He sure did!

We now have twelve people signed up and committed...out of a church of maybe 50 - the most exhilarating thing is that the two core leaders of the church are signed up and really, really convicted, eager and read to rock and roll.