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As I’ve been thinking more and more about leading a missional community through Revolution Church Sacramento next year, I’ve also had thoughts about video preaching as part of what we do. Coinciding with these thoughts was a blog post by Perry Noble that reinforced his position that video teaching honors God and connects with people.

When we did our first month of preview services to share our vision with the members of our mother church, it was video preaching for 3 weeks, with me preaching 1 week. We participated in the One Prayer with LifeChurch.tv which many of you know about already. I was so totally blown away by the quality of the preaching from Perry Noble and Steven Furtick that I was hooked. I mean, I think I can be a pretty funny guy, but usually I evoke a laugh or two during a message while Noble just raised the roof and kept it up the whole 30 minutes. The guy seems like he isn’t even trying, yet he causes us to fire on several emotions in just one message. All this and he wasn’t even in the building! How can a guy in South Carolina talking about eating big, buttery biscuits and people believing or not believing in the power of Christ connect so well with us here in California? I don’t know how or why, but I just know what I saw and how people responded and it was amazing and incredible. Pastor Furtick is another one of those guys that doesn’t seem like he is trying, yet he can convey passion about watching an ice cube in such a way that you never thought possible all through the power of Christ in his life and his love for seeing people hear the gospel and come to know the saving grace of Christ. I was teary-eyed during the last half of his message and again, he wasn’t even in the building!

Can a guy like Noble or Furtick cause things to be stirred up here in Sacramento through video preaching? I think they could. As Revolution Church Sacramento takes shape and launches next year, we are looking to connect with a younger generation for Saturday and/or Sunday evening service. Mostly singles and young couples. However, could we partner with a great visionary preacher like a Pastor Noble or Pastor Furtick (or a Craig Groeschel or Ed Young, Jr. or…) and provide a gathering for families on Sunday mornings and see the kingdom grow even more? Could being missional and putting our faith into practice and sharing the love of Christ with the world be the glue that binds us together, even though we have two different worship styles, with two different meeting times, and two different demographics? I’m beginning to think we could. I’m feeling like the work that needs to be done here in Sacramento is far greater than what I could do even on my best days, and that partnering with another ministry with someone that can lead the way through their preaching and teaching while we work to connect people into service could honor God hugely. Who says that multiple services on a weekend must be the same exact message with the same exact preacher every time?

Maybe this is just another one of those dreams too big for the moment or my abilities. Could be that my mind is wandering and this isn’t what my thoughts should be on these days. However, I just can’t help but feel like this is worth some prayer and discussion and seeing what God would have me do here. My preaching doesn’t really translate well to video, but I’ve seen others with the gift for it and know that it’s being used to make a big impact on people in awesome ways. Just consider me more than a little intrigued at this point.

I invite your prayers and thoughts on this.

Another post by Craig Groeschel on the Swerve blog calls pastors to preach the gospel every time. In his “10 ways to Make Your Spiritual Invitation Stronger” post, he lists these action steps:

1. Truly believe in the power of the gospel to change lives.
2. Recognize that not everyone is saved (including some people who have been members of your church for years).
3. Hate sin. Explain repentance. Preach Christ.
4. Don’t promise a better life. Promise a better eternity and the Holy Spirit to lead you through this life.
5. Preach as if this is someone’s only chance to hear about Christ. It might be.
6. Present the gospel in every message.
7. Call for a decision.
8. Trust that the Holy Spirit has already been at work in someone’s life.
9. Believe people will be saved.
10. Worship God when they are.

Isn’t it amazing that this is a call to pastors? Seriously, shouldn’t we all get this before we accept a call to preach? Well, we should, but we don’t always do this. In particular, I have been to services where decisions are never given. The messages are delivered specifically to those that believe in Christ already. Same with the gospel message. Many services have messages based on scripture on how to be a good parent or good steward of your finances or give money when times are tough to be blessed, yet they never touch on the gospel of Christ’s saving grace.

Another important point here is that I think a lot of pastors don’t really consider that they may have only one chance to connect with someone. God is infinite and he may use several people to call on someone to be saved, yet the road may stop with you. You may be the last hope of seeing someone come to know Christ. Is that reflected in your preaching?

One of the advantages of starting in youth ministry is relating to the statistic that 70% of teens that have been part of a church will leave and never come back once they go to college. That is 7 out of 10 students that will walk away from their faith and choose the world over the kingdom of heaven. If I know time is short, then I know I have take advantage of every opportunity. In the end, I am not perfect and I have failed at times. If I truly believe the gospel has the power to change lives, I must preach it every time for the sake of seeing one more person experience transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we can’t confirm through our own examples from the pulpit that the gospel as has the power to transform lives and that we trust the Holy Spirit has moved before us to soften hearts, how can we expect those in the seats to believe it and live it? Doesn’t the world deserve our best effort to preach the gospel and Christ crucified every time we speak? Are we to be agents of change in revolutionary ways to spread the love and gospel of Christ or should we resort to messages of having better lives for ourselves without repentance and belief that the gospel saves?

This is my act of obedience I must live by and hope that there is still time to see more lives eternally affected through the kingdom of heaven. Romans 1:16-17 will be on my devotional list this week and thanks (as always) to Pastor Craig Groeschel for challenging me and helping to strengthen my faith and ministry! May my ministry come to reflect what God put in my heart every Sunday, rather than what will cause people to like me or consider me to be a better preaching pastor. The transformation must start with me.

Craig Groeschel hit home once again in his list of 10 reasons why people won’t invite others to follow Christ. His number one, and one that I completely agree is the top reason, is fear of rejection. Working in sales most of my adult life before following Christ and entering the ministry, I saw this fact everyday. Imagine people that choose a job that requires them to make a sale in order to earn commission or not get paid, yet being so afraid of rejection that they never asked for the sale? They would explain all the great things about the item/service yet never ask the prospective client to buy. In the world known as the kingdom of God, why should we fear such rejection? If God wants someone to accept an invitation from us, it will happen. If His plan calls for different timing, then so be it. Are people that refuse our invitation refusing us personally or are the refusing God/Jesus/Christianity/Church/Bible?

Craig’s number 10 on the list is powerful and I believe it should have been placed higher on the list (assuming it is chronological). That point is that some Christians won’t extend an invitation to others because they don’t really believe the gospel themselves. It shouldn’t be the case, but this notion is definitely true for a lot of people that may not admit it with their lips, but do so through their actions. I’ll comment more on this in my next post.

Read the whole list of ten reasons at the Swerve blog here.

Craig Groeschel has been blogging this week about how to be original and not try to emulate other pastors. He posted a list of pastors with a notable trait and professed that he would never be like them in those areas (click here to see the list). I found it incredibly interesting as I would have commented on the exact same things. Two that stood out in particular were:

I’ll never be as funny as Perry Noble

I’ll never be as passionate as Steven Furtick

I’ve got to say that after following these two pastors and speaking to my church during the One Prayer series, I was feeling less-than-capable and a little dejected. I’m a passionate guy! I like to think I’m funny too. Somehow it just never translates into my preaching persona. Through prayer I’ve come to accept the gifts God has blessed me with to connect with the people he puts in my path. It’s all about me, because God created me to be the best me I can be. Not the best Craig Groeschel or Perry Noble or Steven Furtick, just the best at being all the Dave Ingland that God calls me to be.

In Craig’s post he ends with a question: What are the top three gifts/talents/abilities God has given you? My response would be:

1. Relevant- As an atheist for the first 37 years of my life, I can relate to anything someone would say about why they believe God does not exist or how Christians are hypocrites or the Bible is just some book no different than a fairy tale read in elementary school. I’ve all of it at some point and now know why I don’t think those things any more. Having been in their shoes, God uses me to be relevant so that they can see the transforming power of the salvation of God within me.
2. Conversational- I am not a bold and loud speaker when I deliver messages. I also don’t come across as being out of reach. God has given me the ability to break out of my shyness and to just talk to people where they are at and to engage them in thought and conversation. I don’t really feel like I am preaching on Sundays, but it is more like being in my living room and I am leading a discussion on a topic and asking for feedback. I definitely doubt I’ll ever be invited by Brian Houston to preach at Hillsong Australia like Perry Noble.
3. Visionary- I never want to settle for less than my best for God and I always want to be moving forward–this is something I am passionate about. Anyone can do something halfway, but if it only requires half of my ability, then anyone could do it. Anyone can do what is assigned to them today, but it takes vision to do something today in a way that it will affect tomorrow. I believe that God has placed me in a journey that causes me to help people realize their dreams through embracing hard work and seeing the bigger picture. Living the Christian life isn’t easy, but it causes us to fulfill that which God created us for–loving God, and loving others above ourselves. Even though we are not to emulate others, this is an area where I would say that I will never be as bold of a visionary as Craig Groeschel. Craig is amazing and when he finds what works he opens up his experiences so that others (like me) can learn through the LifeChuch.tv online resources, his blog, or through writing books.

What are the top three gifts/talents/abilities God has given you?

Wow…wow…wow! I am speechless. What a humbling experience One Prayer has been. What a life-changing event One Prayer has been. To have a vision given to Craig Groeschel that required few words to convey, yet resonated so loudly and clearly to all those that became connected was definitely God showing His face for the world to see. I can’t to write out my reflections on our final One Prayer service today. Oh man, what a day it has been!

When we connected at www.oneprayer.com about 1 1/2 months ago, we were part of 50 churches and 35,000 individuals. In about 6 weeks this has grown to over 1,600 churches and almost 1 million people and there are many churches just starting and continuing this through the month of July. I am in awe of God’s providence and the way He works. I am amazed at how quickly and smoothly this was orchestrated and coordinated with little advance notice. Unbelievable, yet so believable because God is even bigger than One Prayer.

What a blessing and honor to have been a part of this. Dialog has been started, partnerships have developed and relationships are continuing grow all because we felt God calling us to start our tiny little church plant a couple of months early to be a part of this global project.

Praise God & thank you Craig Groeschel! This has touched many lives and was (and will continue to be) a vehicle to share God’s love and His salvation unto some who may not have ever been touched had Pastor Craig not followed through with this. Wow…wow…wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!