I know . . . it's not the best picture I have taken, but it's not about the picture. It is about the invite.
Sunday morning I reminded our church that Sunday night (last night) would be the last opportunity to watch the Christmas light show at SRC. A year-and-a-half in the making, our team pulled off a Disney-like effort in the technological uses of light and space. That's another story in itself, but this is about the invite, right? I reminded folks who had not yet seen it to come and take a look.
They came.
After a humiliating Dolphins loss (we won't go there), and dinner (quite tasty) Shannan and I walked to the church while the rest of our tribe piled in a minivan, pickup truck, and car. When we arrived in the parking lot there were some 20-30 cars and 100 people milling about enjoying the view.
The program is on a continuous loop so people are constantly coming and going. Those numbers were for our little stretch. Again, this isn't so much about the numbers, it's about the invite.
I snapped this picture from my phone as Shannan and I tarted to walk home. I posted it to Twitter and almost immediately it got re-tweeted a couple of times. I put it up on my Facebook account and by this morning it already had 55 "likes," a couple of comments, and a few shares.
Lesson: There is power in a personal invitation.
As I was getting ready this morning I thought about this verse:
One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother: He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. John 1:40-42
Every one of us has a platform and all of us have relationships. Like Andrew, we need to use those to invite people to come and meet the Messiah.
It is Christmas Eve Eve. There are still people out there who need to meet the Savior. We will be telling His story on Christmas Eve at 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m..
Who do you still need to invite to Christmas Eve services?