In the fields of wandering and lost humanity, there are combines of church machinery that have been the force of harvesting for many years in America. The techniques and mechanical maneuvers have been well documented, taught and practiced. The results have been good. The harvest has been tapped, but not completed. Do we blame the missed produce on time-tested techniques or on stubborn fruit? Does the problem lie in the natural wheat that does not respond well to “the way we have always done it”? We are always looking at the ministry from the eyes of the successful farmer and not from the senses of the fruit…Why not truly ask the question? What is wrong with lost people today? The churches are clean, ready and conveniently open, so why don’t they come?

I believe that our thinking needs to become more “holistic”. God has already provided a message that is timeless, relevant, eternal and right-on-time. Ministering in the 21st century has already braced the church to realize that method is the object of change, for reaching the untapped harvest.

The nature of fallen man is to copy. Find something that is working and copy it; if it works for you, take credit for it because remember success is a proud farmer standing on his trusty tractor admiring the harvest not as reached or saved, but as capital for the next venture. Is that the way Abraham approached the future?…Did Moses even have a home when he died? Let me get off of my soap-box for a moment and establish a few foundational points. I am not against technology or people older than me. I love expression, beauty in different forms, and moments when more than two senses are engaged in the worship of a loving God that is eternally holy and multi-dimensional. Think about a moment, you know a spiritually defining, engaging moment in your life. What happened? What made it special? I will spare the rhetorical questions about the construction elements like: rooms, chairs, etc. I know that the human element of relationships is a part of the process, but it boils down to your individual life reaching a hurting and uncontrollable crossroad. Do you remember how your desperation ran face-first into your doubt? It was that moment when you had to choose a path “do I go right or left…surrender to God or resist”.

If you think about it, that kind of moment may have occurred in an old-school traditional service with a robed choir reaching an unbelievable crescendo or in the candle-lit, coffee shop under the unplugged acoustic strums of a single guitarist. Have you ever laid your head on the savior’s shoulder while listening to an iPod in the darkness of your bedroom? Felt both sympathy and courage in the face of a terminally ill person? Maybe heard the voice of God himself saying the words, “I love you” through the vocal chords of your two year old child?

God established his church, but it didn’t come with one-size-fits all blueprints. It wasn’t limited with the only official branded equipment. It didn’t have very many regulations about the harvesters, except that they had to be harvested fruit…not farmers. God is the farmer. We are all just…harvested wheat.

I would like to take you on a journey. A journey back to where we came from. Back to the field. How long has it been since you left the comforting walls and halls of the church facility? Back to the obscure and unusual locations where the spiritually defining God-moments of your life took place. Places where the deep experiences with God were not limited only to a certain time or place on Sundays, but happened out under the open sky, on the rolling hills, under a blanket of stars in a place called ……Graceland.

Still have some questions? Click here to ask Eric!