As we approach the month of August, we realize that the upcoming fall season tends to get people back into their “normal” routine. Kids are back in school, vacations become fewer, and people are thinking about coming back to church on Sundays. In fact, the fall is a time of natural growth for churches. We want to take advantage of the natural growth cycle that is coming to help grow River City Church. We want to ride the natural momentum of this wave. However, this time around we aren’t going to do a 40,000 piece mailer to all of the households in Missoula. No radio ads. Nope. This time, we’re relying on you, RCC members, to get the word out. Fan-based marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing.

There are a lot of advantages to using word-of-mouth marketing over mass marketing strategies. Perhaps the most important is that it gives each one of us personal ownership in helping out with the Great Commission, which is to make disciples of all the nations. Furthermore, an invite to church from a friend or family member tends to be much more effective than receiving a piece of mail from a church you’ve never heard of. If someone comes to church with a friend or family member, they are much more likely to stay and get plugged in, because they have relationship.

Here’s how it’s going to work: I want each person to come up with 2-4 people who don’t currently attend a church, or who at least aren’t actively involved in a local church. Then, I want you to commit to praying for each of those people for the next month. In fact, we’re going to pray for them as a congregation each Sunday through the month of August. We are going to pray specifically that God would stir their hearts to want to grow spiritually and start attending a church. We’re also going to pray that God would provide a perfect opportunity for us to invite them to River City Church.

Prayer is going to be key to the INVITE Initiative. I’m not asking you to commit to inviting them to church. I’m not asking you to commit to proselytizing them. Right now, all I’m asking from each of you is that you commit to pray for 2-4 people every day. That’s it.  What’s going to happen as we pray for these people, is God is going create opportunities for you to share your faith with them, and for you to invite them to a Sunday service or other RCC event. These opportunities will not feel forced, but rather will come very naturally. People will start asking you questions about your faith and your church out of the blue. We are going to be amazed at how God works through us.

For the next few Sundays, we are going to be handing out wallet-sized cards that we can write people’s names on as a reminder to pray for them. Ask God to give you the names of 2-4 people for this Sunday. Bring them with you. And remember last week’s sermon on stepping out in faith to overcome obstacles. I realize this is going to be a stretch for some of us. That’s okay. What’s not okay is allowing fear to rule us. Let’s step out in faith together and believe that God is going to use each of us in a great way to see His Kingdom grow through River City Church.

I came across this post on Dave Browning’s Blog, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I decided instead of linking to it, that I’d just paste the whole thing here. Get ready….

David Ryser was teaching at a school of ministry. He gave a short history of Christianity that went like this: “Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” Ryser describes what happened next….

Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old–barely out of diapers–and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

… I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God–much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don’t care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ–that’s pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don’t even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha’s question again one day, and considered the question, “What’s the difference between a lover and a prostitute?” I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, “What would happen if God stopped paying me?”

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is
the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lovers or prostitutes?

Don’t miss out on our Baptism Celebration Wednesday night at Chief Looking Glass Park! We’ll meet at 6pm and baptize some folks and have a child dedication. Then we’ll offer up a burnt offering on the BBQ! Bring a side dish, drinks, and a chair.

Directions: head south on Hwy 93 past Lolo. Before you get to Florence, you’ll take a left off the highway. You should see signs pointing to the campground.

Woo hoo!

• What a powerful service! It was one of those days when the presence of God was clearly evident.
• Worship was sweet. Emily and the team really got into a flow.
• Spoke on Joshua Chapter 3. The last big obstacle. All of us have obstacles that keep us from our inheritance. Many of us camp way too long on the wrong side of our obstacle. What’s it gonna take for us to step into the water?
• Each of us carries the presence of God with us. Each of us is a priest in the Kingdom of God. God will accompany us as we step out in faith.
• The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be is the amount of risk you are willing to take for Him; it’s the amount of faith you’re willing to exercise.
• If you never take God-sized risks, you’ll never see God-sized miracles.
• Faith is God’s currency. It’s the currency of His Kingdom.
• Don’t be like the Moses Generation, who camped on the wrong side of their obstacle for 40 yrs. They died on the wrong side.
• Be the Joshua Generation, who camped for 3 days in order to prepare themselves, then stepped out in faith into the raging river.
• Joshua 21:45 “Every single good promise that the Lord had given the nation of Israel came true.”
• They came true because they were obedient and they stepped out in faith even when their circumstances seemed impossible.

• It’s great to be back in Missoula! Our 2 week road trip was good, but there’s nothing better than home!
• Small turnout, but great to see everyone again. I seriously don’t like even missing 1 Sunday.
• Dale Steingruber from our Lewiston church came over to speak when we were gone on July 12th. I got some good feedback on the service in the park that day.
• We started in on Joshua 2 yesterday, talking about Getting What We Don’t Deserve. If Rahab the prostitute can be saved and grafted in to God’s family, then surely we all can as well!
• Notice that Rahab was grafted in by her faith (Joshua 2:11 “The Lord your God is the God of heaven and earth.”)
• We’re uploading podcasts to the website now. You can Click Here to listen to the last 2 sermons.
• Worship was great. Emily has been doing a great job leading for the last month or so.
• See you on Sunday!

We started a new series called “Joshua Generation”. We’ll be going through the Book of Joshua for the next 2 months and I believe that it is going to be a powerful time. You won’t want to miss any of the sermons because you’ll get behind. So, we’ll be recording all of them and uploading them as podcasts on our website.  I would highly recommend that you bring your bible with you each Sunday, and read along during the week.

You can download Joshua 1 – Your Inheritance from the website. Enjoy!

• A little light on attendance today, but what would I expect after the 4th?
• Diane Lake shared about her new book, “Full Circle: Coming into the fullness of Christ”.
• It was amazing how it flowed with the sermon today. Especially her chapter on Inheritance.
• BTW, they’re for sale for $10. I’ve read it and it is good. You can pick on up on Sunday.
• Worship was great. I think our worship experience each week has SOOOO much to do with our individual expectations. If we really worship God and believe he’s going to show up, then he does.
• We started a new series today called “Joshua Generation”. We’re going through the book of Joshua for the next 2 months and it is going to be great!
• I’m glad to be preaching again. It was nice having 4 weeks off, but I missed it.
• I have a Media page on the website now where you can listen to podcasts of the sermon. Click here for Sunday’s sermon. You won’t want to miss it!
• The final tally is in: we gave $1000 to the One Prayer initiative last week to plant1000 churches in Sudan, Cambodia, India, and China. I’ll post updates when I hear more about the total giving from the 2000 churches involved.
• This Sunday’s service is going to be in Boyd Park just down the street from the building. It’s on Washburn. Same time. Bring some chairs!