Recently I attended a World Vision conference in Nashville, it was awesome! The theme of the event was “Use Your Voice, Do Good.” Which basically talked about how we should use our talents, skills, platform & resources to make an impact in our world for the good. God has blessed everyone of us with different abilities & resources to help others, what are we doing with them? A man said something that really stuck with me, he said people often ask him, “If God was such a loving God, then why does He let all these bad things happen to people & let little children starve & die around the world?” His answer was this, “God doesn’t let these things happen, we do.”
Wow, what a statement, something pretty hard to swallow, but so true. His point was the fact that many of us have the means to help others, the opportunities to help make a difference in other lives, but many times we choose not to. There were many stories I heard at the conference that were really hard to hear, everything from little babies in the streets starving, to children who are being put into the child sex trafficking market, who are raped many times a day. More than ever my eyes were opened even more to the fact that there is a hurting world out there & God is looking for people to step up & do something about it.
Our motto for our ministry has always been “Making A Difference” but last year I really started evaluating our music & ministry to see, am I really “making the difference” that God wants me to make? God’s answer to me was simple, it was NO. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I really felt God showing me that even though I was doing a good work, I was not in God’s perfect will for my life & ministry. Over the years I had let the criticism from the people in the churches change my vision & focus off of what God had put in my heart, & because of that I was missing the chance to reach more hurting people.
I realize there is more going on than what we see in the church on Sunday morning, I constantly get messages from people who are really struggling. Kids that are battling depression & suicide, families that have been split apart, & when I see things like the child sex trafficking & all these babies that are dying in the streets of these countries, I realize I’m missing the mark, it’s time to step up & attack these problems head on. We’ve got to stop hiding in the church asking God, “what can I do?” There is so much we can do if we look around, I truly believe many things that are happening in the world today are just like the man said, we, including myself, have let them happen because we have gotten side tracked with things that aren’t even important. Let’s refocus our eyes on the problems facing us & say Ok, now how can I change this & make a difference? And then be like Nike, Just Do It!
This year we will continue sharing our mission with World Vision because it is an amazing ministry! Also we will be partnering with teen suicide organizations & with an anti human trafficking organization too. I’m really excited that we are going to get to bring a message of hope through our music to those who need it most! I no longer want to be one of those people who knows that these terrible things are going on but does nothing about it. There is a time that we as God’s hands to this world must reach out & that time is now.
So I ask you are you going to sit by & watch? Or will you be someone who says, God I know I can make a difference, I’m not going to let things happen that I can prevent, help me to make an impact in my world? If we will all do that we truly can change this world, that is my vision, not to be a church go-er but a world changer! Will you join with me?