May 9, 2011

This past weekend, we had our 7th annual Fishers of Men Trout Tournament here at Center Baptist. This was birthed in the heart of Mark Pourbaix, our Men's Minister, and it has grown each year. The heart of this event is to reach out by sharing the gospel to those who may never come into the doors of our church. So as the men and now their families come in, before they go fish, we have a speaker come and give a gospel presentation. Then they go out and fish and then come back and we weigh their fish, clean their fish, and then give them a chicken lunch, along with great door prizes. This year was the biggest we have ever had. All total there were over 570 registered for the tournament with 44 praying to receive Christ. Our God deserves all of the praise and to Him be the glory.

In doing these now for 7 years, there are some things that we have learned. For one, as the body of Christ, we mu be willing to take the church and the gospel outside the four walls of our building. As Mark reminded us, you won't find in the Bible where God commanded the lost to come to us, but you will find over and over where God commanded the church to go to the lost. We have also learned there are a lot of hurting people out there just looking for someone to not only share with them Jesus, but so desperately want someone to show them Jesus. Now, I admit, we are not perfect and we miss a lot, because we are very much human. But with God's grace and His power, in this event our folks seek to not only show Jesus but to share Him as well. And we are constantly seeking ways in which we can continue to do this in everything we do.

Bottom line is this, even in a highly technical, modern, fast-moving world, the basic needs of people come down to wanting to know that somebody loves and cares for them. As the body of Christ, that is our job. God has called us, not the government, not civic organizations, no; He has called the church to be His feet, His hands, and most importantly His heart to this world that is lost without Him. I stand humbled and grateful to Center Baptist for having, I believe, the heart of God and loving people like they do. I am blessed as a pastor to see the hand of God move as He has and as I pray He will continue to do. To God be the Glory, great things He has done.

Pastor Michael