What happens when someone experiences a radical rebirth while attending a church that considers that rebirth too extreme? The month of June features “The Evangelists.” During the great awakening, this was a common situation. But it is also experienced in churches of most any denomination even today.
Most of us over thirty were raised believing in the American Dream, that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and prosper through hard work, determination, and initiative. Where is God in that equation? Is material success really what should drive us? What happens when someone decides to sacrifice it all to serve the Lord? (See Radical by David Platt.)
A friend’s daughter is a case in point. She and her husband both had six figure incomes and were moving up in their respective professions. But when God convinced them he had something else planned for them, they sold everything, gave up their jobs, and moved to South America to start a school and reach people for Jesus. How do you think the world saw that decision? What would people in your church think if someone, sitting next to them in the pew, took that path? Seeking our own American Dream, how many of us would even consider the possibility that God may be calling us to something similar?
#greatawakening #Baptists #baptisthistory #ThomasMacy