This week the Boston Globe tells of a street evangelist who stands outside Fenway every game day. He wears a sign that shows some people going to paradise while others fall off a cliff into a fiery hell. His baseball cap doesn’t say “Red Sox” but rather "Heaven or Hell - It's Your Choice." That’s the type of evangelism that gives many of us nightmares. This fall we will be looking at ways to reach others. I promise you that not one of the options involves walking up and down Mass Avenue wearing a sandwich board announcing doom. The gospel is good news, and telling people about Jesus is not an option. Just exactly how we do it is our choice. As your pastor, I hope you trust me when you hear me say the very future of our church lies in evangelism. May our desire to share what we are discovering about the life of faith and our skills for effectively communicating that spiritual growth increase. Our good Christian experience can be contagious.

As we look towards the fall and the beginning of our church year, there are a multitude of details and decisions facing us. As your pastor I am always aware of how much I need to learn so I can effectively serve the Lord through this wonderful church. All of us who call First Baptist home must decide how to do God’s work through our church. Focusing on making a commitment to attend worship regularly, whether teach or just participate in a particular educational opportunity, how to become a better usher or choir member, or exactly how to use the gift of hospitality that has been given us may seem like small matters. I believe a dozen of us making a fresh commitment in small matters to serving God through First Baptist could spark a revitalized church. We need to pray for a vision of God’s tomorrow for First Baptist and how each of us is to help make that vision a reality.

My part? I would like First Baptist Arlington to be known as a church of relevant, biblical preaching. I have always believed God uses preaching in a unique way to build his church, even in an era of multimedia communication overload. God speaks to us as individuals when through faithful preaching the flint of a person’s needs is struck by the steel of God’s Word. It is then that the spark of the Holy Spirit can ignite the soul. First Baptist Arlington must continue to become a teaching-learning community where we grow in knowledge of God’s way and gain skills in putting our faith into practice.

To make the vision a reality requires prayer and work. If you pray for First Baptist’s ministry, and do nothing else, you will bless us abundantly. Pray for our teachers, our musicians, our visitation workers, our committees, our people, and for me. I invite you, though, to join in the work. You will find God’s blessing for yourself, as well as those to whom you minister.