As a planter, I used to stand up in front of people all the time and say: “If ONE person comes to know Christ as Savior, it is worth it all!”
The problem is that I didn’t really believe it fully. Our last Easter at New Hope in a tiny Ohio town where our first plant was, we had around 1,500 people. Had 1 person come to know Christ, be baptized and follow as a disciple, I would have almost been embarrassed, but yet, I constantly said it was “all about the ONE.”
We know that there is a party in heaven over 1 lost should finding Christ, than the 99, but the questions is: DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?
After 1 year on the ground here in Utah, and even a longer journey of HELL to reach this culture, we had 1 person on our team. I remember writing in my journal: “OK Lord…I am not just flat on my back looking for you and forgetting everything about me, but I feel that I am 6 feet under and you are throwing the dirt on top of me.”
Things didn’t get any better with that desert experience. That 1 person quit our team, then another girl joined and she quit! But one thing emerged: We would be known as a church that is all about the ONE. To the core. To the heart. With all of our might. With all of our soul. Is that ONE person really worth it? Does that really matter? I pray that we will never lose that focus as we finally mustered up an amazing launch team and had a very good launch here in Utah.
But this ONE question remains:
“Do you love the idea of community more than the people in that community?”– D. Bonhoeffer
By the way, if you wonder why we are called: ONE Community Church [www.ONEcommunity.tv]…now you know.
