C309 Wednesday Night

What a great kick off to the conference on Wednesday night.  Jentezen Franklin open it up by talking about the mercy of God.  He told a great Aggie joke about the star athlete who had to pass a test to play in the big UT game.  After special tutoring, they brought the athlete on Kyle Field to ask him 5 questions.  If he answered them right, he could play.  First question, what is 2+2?  "Four", he said.  The crowd exploded.  Questions #2, what is 3+3?  "Six," he said.  The crowd at Kyle Field went wild.  Questions #3, what is 3+4?  The athlete started to sweat, and with great concentration he said seven.  The huge crowd of Aggies at Kyle Field starting screaming "give him another chance."  That's what God does for us. He gives us another chance.  The church is about taking in the unmerciful and showing mercy.

Christine Caine was next.  I had never heard her speak so I was excited.  She was incredible.  She talked about the role of the church in the world.  She said that we are too busy doing church than being the church.  She talked about being "of the world" and "in the world".  Her point was that too many of us turn out the lights in our community because we don't want to be in the world.  But if we are not "in the world", where are we?  We are hiding behind our church walls trying to be "of the world." She talked about the lost in Matthew.  The sheep was lost because it was preoccupied.  The coin got lost because the woman was careless.  The son was lost because he was unprepared.  Most lost people are not "big, bad, terrible people," but they are just preoccupied, careless and unprepared.  We can be the light in the world for those people.  That is our job, our calling, our ministry our only reason to be.

Wow.  I am going to listen to the talks again and again to get it all.  This is just a drop of what we have learned. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Marlin Smith]

As you should know, there is no such thing as a great Aggie joke. I spoke with Mike Leach and he has requested you no longer attend Cotton Bowl games with TT in them.