Keep Your Eyes On The Ball

I was in my Sophomore year of playing basketball at Acadiana High School.  Our coach, a strict disciplinarian named Bobby Banna, had taken over at the midpoint of our season and turned our team around from a loser to a winner. 

Coach Banna was manic about executing the fundamentals at all times.

I will never forget one game in particular.  The other team had missed a shot and we had gotten the rebound and were driving the ball down the court the other way.  As I was running up court, a fight broke out back behind the goal where the the rebound had occured.  As I ran looking back, the ball was passed to me.

It hit me square in the head and bounced out of bounds.

Coach Banna went into a tirade.  ^@#@%^@[email protected]!%&# Lepinay......!!!!!  Keep your _______ ________ eyes on the _____________ball!!!!!

Sunday night, at our Harvest 101 Membership Class, someone asked what 'kind' of church we are at Harvest.  Are we a denominational church?  Are we a non-traditional church?  Are we an emergent church? 

The answer?  Harvest is a "Missional Church".  We are focused on Jesus' mission to "seek and save that which is lost". 

That is "THE BALL" for us, and keeping our eyes on THAT ball is what we are manic about.  As a matter of fact, I made this statement Sunday night, which you will hear me say a thousand times over in the future...

"The day you stop praying for and inviting lost people is the day you will start feeling disconnected from Harvest."  And I have seen it.

People come in to Harvest.  They love the music and messages.  They love the life.  They love the fact they can invite their lost friends and family and be confident they will hear the truth spoken with clarity, conviction and love.  But then, oftentimes, something happens.

They stop. 

Church becomes about them and their needs.  They stop seeing church as a place to partner in doing the Great Commission of Jesus' heart to seek and save the lost.  It becomes about convenience.  It becomes about friends.  It becomes about a host of otherwise legitimate, good things, but not THE BALL.

Within no time, they are insulated, with all Christian friends, in what I call their little "Christian Ghetto".

How do I know?  Been there.  I woke up one day and realized I had absolutely NO non-Christian friends I was really concerned about, praying for, inviting to church.  I made a decision that by the grace of God, I would build a church that would always "keep its eyes on the ball".  That is why I am so dogmatic about the mission of Harvest, "Helping spiritual seekers become Spirit empowered servants of Jesus Christ". 

Seeker to Servant.

One life to live, one life to give,

PB

Comments

[Libby Kephart Hargrave]

God bless you, Bobby.

[Beau]

I miss the days of playing some ball with you at worship team practice....

[Teacherspet]

I'm so glad Harvest emphasizes staying out of 'the Ghetto'. So many believe that you have to stay away from 'bad influences' in order to maintain a walk with Christ. If that is so why was Christ always coolin out with these same 'bad influences' in His ministry. Ravenhill says, paraphrasing, that the miracle of salvation is not only to take an unholy man and make him holy, but also put that man back in unholy world and keep him holy. Darkness cannot affect light. Be encouraed PB Christ light shines in you and your teaching!

[Jim Mather]

Love that word and doing it: Missional