As some of you know, I spent the better part of last week in Cincinnati learning and networking at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference.  The mission of the CCDA is to “inspire and train Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under–resourced communities.”  During the past week, I have had the opportunity to sit and listen at the feet of experienced Christian community developers who shared with me an abundance of wisdom to chew on and bring back to New Orleans.

        In the mornings, I attended Bible study sessions with Dr. John Perkins, the founder of CCDA.  He walked us through the book of 1 John, and I would like to share some of his insights as well as offer a challenge to the Grace family.

        1 John speaks frequently to the idea of darkness. The children of God are called to bear the light of truth to a dark and fallen world. Although the conference room was filled with thousands of people passionate about bringing this light to their dark and broken communities, Dr. Perkins admonished us all for forsaking the foundational task of discipleship in our churches. Christians can not expect to effectively be a  light to our communities if we are not developing spiritual maturity in our own church bodies. The transformation of communities begins within each of us. Dr. Perkins poignantly stated that the world is not rejecting Jesus but our behavior. As God’s children, we must begin to move beyond nominal Christianity and toward becoming authentic disciples of Christ.

        Charlie has lately blessed us with his sermons through Matthew which have provided a biblical picture of what it means exactly to be an authentic disciple of Christ. Certainly, it is much more than filling a space in a pew every Sunday morning.  Simply having a lot of biblical knowledge is not a complete picture of being a disciple. God calls us to submit every aspect of our lives to radical obedience, to live out on the limb in faith, and to shower unconditional love upon our neighbors.

        The Christian life is not meant to be defeated and ineffective.  It is surely not meant to be comfortable and boring. Neither is it something that we should keep to ourselves. We serve a living Christ! The power that resurrected Christ from the dead is the very same power that dwells within us— and we need to live like we actually believe this truth before we can transform our communities.

        As minister of education, it is my job to be concerned with helping people move forward in becoming authentic disciples. One vehicle for this is through Sunday School or small groups. Grace family, I would like to challenge you to become involved in a group if you are not currently doing so. I would also like to challenge you to spend time daily reading the Bible and praying. Remember, the staff at Grace is here to offer guidance if you are not sure where to start, so feel free to contact myself or Charlie. Blessings and peace—