shared by Frank and Cindy May
If you read this blog, we have a request for you. I believe what we’re requesting will dramatically change the world, so I hope you’ll consider it seriously.
In August, I (Frank) read an article about a man I’d never heard of, Pastor David Platt. I was intrigued. After watching what was described by Christianity Today as “the most powerful sermon in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention” I was more than intrigued. I dragged my wife in. 🙂
Since that time, we and several others we know have watched through his RADICAL series and Faith Works series.
We believe that the message contained in these series will change us and will therefore change the world. Why? Because David Platt is great? No, because God’s Word is great. Because His Word is like a hammer that breaks rock to pieces. (Jer 23:29)
The request is simple. Will you watch and/or lead a small group through these two video series- RADICAL and Faith Works. It will take 13 weeks, perfect for a Spring Semester. If you’ve never led a small group before, there is no better way to start. All you need to do is press PLAY, and an hour later, ask one simple question, “What are you thinking?” In our experience, there will be no shortage of conversation.
The message contained in these series is compelling, is urgent and is anything but boring.
In case we need to be reminded of the urgency…
I want you to imagine for a moment that you woke up this morning to the following headline: “One hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500.” Think of the pandemonium this would create across the world as heads of state, parliaments, and congresses convened to grapple with the nature and causes of this tragedy. Think about the avalanche of media coverage…
Now imagine that the very next day, one hundred more planes crashed–and one hundred more the next, and the next and the next. It is unimaginable that something this terrible could ever happen.
But it did–and it does.
It happened today, and it happened yesterday. It will happen again tomorrow. But there was no media coverage…and no investigations were launched. Yet more than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that… Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, The Hole in our Gospel pg 106
Richard Stearns goes on to quote Bono speaking to this generation and specifically to the Church.
Fifteen thousand Africans are dying each day of preventable, treatable diseases, for lack of drugs that we take for granted.
This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly: the idea of equality. What is happening to Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern and questions our commitment to the whole concept…An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives–African lives–are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It’s an uncomfortable truth.
We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies–but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears?…We can’t say our generation didn’t know how to do it. We can’t say our generation couldn’t afford it. And we can’t say our generation didn’t have reason to do it. It’s up to us. ~ Bono
Click here to download a Radical Small Group Guide
…That now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Cor 8:14-15
Remember the Poor 