Are we ready to sacrifice for the Gospel?

"The freedom of this city is not negotiable.."    ~ John F. Kennedy, Berlin, 1961

"We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty..."
     ~ John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

"Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city! There is no one like our God!" ~ Chris Tomlin, God of This City, 2008.

One of the greatest sacrifices the church seems to be making is the sacrifice of forgoing the Gospel.  There seems to be a rush of pastors leaving the pulpit of the traditional church at an alarming rate in the western hemisphere.  Thankfully, the majority of those who are leaving are doing so with honorable intentions, having become fed up with a congregation of unsalty Christians who seem to have forgotten that men and women are enslaved to sin.  What our world needs is not more organs, pews and summer youth vacations.  What our world needs is freedom; freedom that only Christ can bring.  Freedom from the bondage of slavery to evil.  Freedom from being destined to eternity away from God, suffering His wrath.

We need brave men and women, young men and girls who are willing to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship in order to take the message of Jesus Christ into our schools, our workplace, our community clubs and into the world.  We can rest assured that we will be successful, because God is the God of the city! 

I am saddened at the rate of decline in our mainline denominations and churches; I am saddened by the shrinking pool of pastors in established, evangelical churches.  But I am thrilled at the number of men and women who have faced the ridicule of others, who have bet against the odds, who have stepped out in faith to start a new movement that I believe might very well be greater than The Great Reformation in scope.  All this in an effort to take Christ to the masses.  I pray that our generation will be the start of Revolution.  So let it be Lord, so let it be!