May 2007
Hello, my friends!
Are you a "numbers person?" Here's a few statistics for you to think about.
- The three countries with the most non-Christian are China, India and the USA!
- In the last fifteen years the number of non-Christians in the USA has doubled.
- 99% of the people living in apartment complexes are unchurched. The majority of Americans now live in multi-housing.
- Over 80% of 16-25 year olds are unchurched in the USA.
- The most conservative pollsters estimate that over half of the USA is unchurched. Many put this number at closer to 80%.
- Southern Baptists - the largest Protestant denomination in the world - baptized only 4,000 people in the whole USA in 2006!
I tend to think of our work in military metaphors - Special Forces, front lines and spiritual warfare. Our country, the leader of the free world, needs Jesus. More than ever we need soldiers. If you were the evil one, which would you prefer? Have all the Christians all in one spot or spread out in the community?
When I work with churches I have a very simple grading scale: if you closed your doors tomorrow what would the community think? Would they notice a difference? Are we merely carrying out our programs that only fill our needs with little or no regard to the non-Christians all around us?
Who can forget the heart breaking video from Virginia Tech? Two days after the shooting, I was in a meeting of the Faith Based Alliance to discuss the separation of Church and State in our schools. As regulation after regulation was read off as to why Christians could have no open presence within our educational system, my heart sank. Our young people need a message of hope! Where are they going to find that? In our media? In government? In money?
Now, more than ever, we need to be open about how Jesus is making a difference in our lives. At Whirlwind Missions we share the Gospel in the most difficult areas of Metro Atlanta. With your prayers and support we will continue to "Take the Church, To the People!" We are making a difference, but the job is immense! This month Metro Atlanta went over 5 million people. That's 5 million reasons to have a sense of urgency ! We continue to expand ministry into more parts of Atlanta. Last year we saw over 300 people accept Christ through our work at the missions. But we are just scratching the surface. Please pray that God will continue to raise up soldiers in this battlefield. Go to whirlwindmissions.org and click on the Blogs to read daily reports from the field.. And PRAY till something happens!