Al Lingren, tells about taking his 13-year-old son fishing a few years ago. It was one of those days when the fish wouldn’t bite and they had a lot of time to talk. Out of the clear blue his son asked, “Dad, what’s the toughest thing God ever tried to do?”

The question caught Lingren, a pastor, off guard. He didn’t know what to say, so like a good teacher, he answered a question with a question, “What do you think it was?” The boy first smiled and said, “Even tho you’re a pastor, you don’t know much about God, do you Dad?”

Then the boy gave his answer. “Since taking science in school, I thought the creation of the world might be the hardest thing God ever tried to do. Then in Sunday School we got to talking about the miracles, like Jesus’ resurrection, and I thought that might be the toughest thing God ever did. Then after thinking some more and talking to others, I decided that no one knows God really well.  So now I think that the toughest thing God ever tried to do is to get us to understand who God is and that God loves us.”

This is our business.  We are in the business of helping the world understand who God is and how much He loves them.  We are in the business of becoming so like Jesus that when we get around people, they can’t help but bump into Jesus.  We are not in the church growth business.  We are not in the lift up Calvary business.  We are in the “serve others” business.  We are in the lift up Jesus business.

That’s why we are doing CityServe.  We simply want to take a weekend, to go out and do everything we possibly can to show people that Jesus loves them.  We are doing CityServe because we want Jesus to come into our city and we don’t want pple to miss him this time.

We are doing CityServe because Jesus loves our city, and compassion without service means little to those we say we love.  In Luke 19:28-34, there is this somewhat unique, almost strange detail included about Palm Sunday.  Jesus needed a donkey to ride into town.

So he sent his disciples to some unnamed man’s house, to get a donkey.  If the man asked them why they were taking his donkey, they were to simply respond, Because the Lord needs it.  The question I’ll leave you with is simply this… What does the Lord need from you to make it possible for him to
come into our communities?

If all he needed was a weekend, would you give it?  What if good deeds done with the heart of Jesus are the donkey that Jesus would ride into town.  CityServe is five Congregations giving a thousand people to work on 122 projects over two days.  That’s what CityServe is all about.

Don’t miss it!  Currently we have about 200 people signed up — need about 800 more!  Go to CityServe for more information and to sign up.