REMEMBER WHEN A CHURCH THREW UP BILLBOARDS IN TIME SQUARE?
‘There is no one else who has the power to save us, for there is only one name to whom God has given authority by which we must experience salvation: the name of Jesus .”’ Acts 4:12
2014 was one of those “shift” type years for us. My wife and I were living in Chicago and juggling church life with kids life (plural). Roscoe was now 4 and Aaliyah was 2 — so yah, that juggle life was real.
We were searching. We didn’t know “what” exactly — but we knew something needed to happen.
The fall of 2013 we flew out to New York City to attend the first Hillsong Conference in the USA. It was a BIG DEAL for us. We almost looked at the trip as a chance to check out NYC and Hillsong. We thought, “maybe Hillsong NYC was the next place for us?”
The conference was great and we have lots of great friends in NYC, but we left knowing a few things.
1. We love NYC food and pizza.
2. It’s way too F’N packed for us. No thanks on moving there.
This lead to the summer of 2014 when the Hillsong album No Other Name was released.
If there was ever a campaign to be proud of — this was the one. I mean, WTF — Hillsong had billboards in Times Square. If there was a church I wanted to be at — THAT was the one.
We quickly reminded ourselves of our 2 points above.
But, we were pumped for the album. We were pumped for Hillsong. We were pumped for how this church in Australia was making waves in the USA. It was bananas 🍌.
These kind of moments in life are great reminders to me. When I see something that inspires me or makes me want to be a part of it — I take note of it — especially in church.
You know what sucks to me sometimes — when the name of Jesus is thrown around.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been around church too much. However, I think a lot of times people use the name as a crutch.
Like, something to say when you don’t know what to say. Like, “it’s going to be ok, just trust in Jesus.”
“Trust in Jesus?” WTF does that mean.
The average person has little to NO UNDERSTANDING about who or what Jesus is. They just care about how their life is going to get better.
I think we need to use way more wisdom when it comes to throwing out the name of Jesus on people. And yah, I get it, “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to the name of Jesus.”
But, let people decide.
If Jesus is as good of a product as WE say He is — then let the product speak for itself.
Sure, introduce the product (Jesus) to people but in no way, shape or form, manipulate them or scare them. Let the “goodness” of God do that.
‘Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ‘ Romans 2:4
I used to think that if I wasn’t in the streets “soul winning” that I wasn’t a good Christian. Even as I type that — I realize it’s really F’D UP.
I’ve realized that “soul winning” is so much more than getting someone to say a prayer after you.
Jesus to me — YES, has changed my life in every way.
Yes, I want everyone to experience Jesus.
However, I can’t make anyone do anything.
I’ll leave you with this.
If Jesus has changed your life — how are you actively leading others toward the greatest product you have ever known?
What I loved about the No Other Name campaign was that it caused people to look and see where it came from.
Imagine all of the people who saw this sign on a billboard — looked it up and discovered it originated from a Church.
That’s a pretty dope idea and to think it came from a church. THAT creates mystery and intrigue into WHY? And that, is the goodness of God.
Let’s pray:
Make up your own prayer. Keep it simple.
