I’ve often heard Pastor Kit talk about his desire and vision for New Life Covenant Church to
be “the most caring church in our city.” I love that concept. It is definitely consistent with the
Word of God, which says “… love your neighbor as yourself…” (Mark 12:31), and the vision
definitely resonates with me, as I am sure it does with you. I love our church and I love its
members. It brings me great joy to see each of you on Sunday mornings as we come into the
Worship setting with high spirits. Brice and the Worship Team first lead us with music that makes
us want to raise our hands and glorify our Lord and Savior, then gently transitions us through
musical steps, directly to the throne room of God, where we spend time in prayerful conversation
with God Himself; sometimes just listening as He impresses upon our spirits His vision for us and
how much He loves us. We are truly blessed to have a Bible-Based Pastor who listens to the Holy
Spirit and is obedient to the Spirit’s leading in his teaching and preaching. I am sure that many
have felt the warm flood of the Holy Spirit’s presence within us as He moves among us, during
the musical portion of our worship as well as during the spoken portion. As I wrote those words
this morning, I am moved at the beauty of that picture and the confidence in Christ and
determination it spawns in my spirit to live a life that is pleasing to God.

As beautiful as that picture presents itself and I am committed to repeating it, I am aware
that there are people in our own congregation who are hurting either physically or emotionally,
thus unable to pause and be refreshed by it. The world would say “Live and let live. Just go on
and enjoy the warmth of the Holy Spirit’s presence yourself, and let others get there when they
can; if they can.” But that is not our mandate. Our mandate is “… love your neighbor as
yourself…” I have asked God to increase my awareness of those who are struggling to be at
peace in the arms of Jesus and to give me the right words to show the love of Jesus to them in a
more practical way. Last night, at the Wednesday night Prayer Group, I encouraged the Prayer
Team to pray in agreement that God grant each of us those same abilities and now I am using
this forum to broaden the mission to each of you. You see, there is no way that we can be “the
most caring church in our city,” if we are not demonstrating that kind of care and love to those
within our own congregation.

It is not God’s plan for us to rub shoulders with people each week, who are separated from
God and God’s people by the hurts of this world and not intervene to usher them into the
presence of the Holy Spirit, so that He can resuscitate them and get them back into action for
Him. The essence of caring is to do just that. That is our calling. The Mission Statement of New
Life Covenant Church is “Building lives together to make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.”
We will not accomplish that task if we remain willing to leave our wounded along the side of the
proverbial road and do nothing to stop the bleeding. We are deceiving ourselves if we think that
we are “building lives together…” if we allow ourselves to do that.

That probably sounds a bit harsh, but I do not mean it to be an indictment. I mean it to
be a challenge for us to be more intentional about seeing and acting on those situations where
people are obviously hurting. The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 gives us the
right response. It is not to just go on by and ignore the pain of others so that our own agenda is
not disturbed. Jesus put it this way in John 15:13, when he said “Greater love has no one than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Now, I have never been in a situation where I was
asked to give up my life for a friend, but there have been innumerable occasions where it was
God’s plan for me to put my agenda on hold for another. We must ask ourselves “Am I willing to
put my life on hold for another; to put their pain before my wants and my timeline?” If our
answer is “not really,” then we need to re-evaluate our priorities and adjust according to God’s
leading. I hope that we are all willing to reach out to others who are not being their usual self
and give them the opportunity to move into a place of sweet repose with Christ.

Now… here’s the real deal. The mandate extends beyond our church. If we are to be “the
most caring church in our city,” we cannot just be an “island of care” within the city and hurting
people have to find us somehow before they can benefit from our caring. We must be
transferring the loving/caring spirit lessons learned and practiced amongst us as a congregation to
our respective circles of influence in the community. If we do that, as individuals and corporately,
we truly will be “Working together to make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” If we do not,
as individuals or corporately, we are just playing church and our Mission Statement is just words.

Ask yourself the question then make a plan, as necessary, to do something about it. We
should talk. I really want to know your experiences.

I’m Just Sayin’…
Pastor Larry