The Results Are In

Well the votes are all in and the results show that Leap Of Faith was a big success. You might say it was a “sleeper”. A number of our folks said that when our 40 day prayer experiment first began back in March they were less than enthusiastic.  They admitted that they were rather skeptical that it would catch on and doubtful it would make a whole lot of difference in their lives and in our church. Rather than a leap you could say they started off by taking a crawl of faith.

But something happened along the way to Easter Sunday. It began to catch on. Like a seed planted in good soil, watered each day by God’s words  from the gospel of Mark and by prayer, faith started to grow. At first you could only sense it slightly, but then as the jar began to fill up with jelly beans and beer can tabs you could see that God was showing up in all sorts of ways; ways we never expected. Jobs, finances, healings, discoveries, changed lives, God-coincidences and divine appointments, little things, big things, unexpected surprises, lot’s of God-things.

And then last Sunday on Easter there it was in plain sight – the experiment was a success! Our crawl had become a leap and we all knew that somehow God had changed us. We celebrated it together, telling stories and singing songs about it. We had taken a leap together into the arms of God and ended up with a lot more faith and confidence in his love than when we began 6 weeks ago! You could feel it. You could see it!

What’s next?

Since Sunday I’ve talked to several of you that told me you’re bummed that Leap Of Faith is over. You’re afraid you’re going to lose the faith-momentum that you have. You asked, “Where do they go from here?”

I can only answer you this way: We’re not the same community we were 6 weeks ago. Look at  Leap Of Faith as a springboard. We now have more faith and confidence that God loves us and has plans to bless us and use us to help him make a better world. We have momentum and an opportunity to build on it. Just how, I’m not exactly sure? What I do know is that this doesn’t have to end. It can be a beginning of something new for us. Leap Of Faith can become a lifestyle, like it was for Paul who said, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

This coming Saturday I’ll be meeting with the Advisory Team to take a look at the results of Leap Of Faith and discuss and pray about what our next steps should be. Our objective will be to see how we can continue to build on this momentum so that leaps of faith become a normal part of our culture here at the NBV. Please be praying for us. Then we’ll report on our progress and work on  next steps together at our upcoming Core meeting on May 19th.
I’m looking forward to it. I hope you will too.

God bless and keep on leapin’
Mike T

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