The Buzz in D.C.

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to our nation's capitol with Dan, Lance, and Marc to attend a "Buzz Conference" hosted by National Community Church (Pastor Mark Batterson) in Washington DC. Their church meets in several theaters and a coffee house in the metro DC area and has creatively been reaching out to their community for almost 10 years. The idea of the meetings centered around how to create "buzz" for our churches, echoing the words of Jesus in Luke 14:23 "Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full." The word urge means to demand attention--to stop and take notice.

In the media craze our culture has created, we are blitzed with over 3000 marketing advertisments every day. Commercials on TV--billboards while driving down the road--You can't even use the bathroom without being bombarded by some form of advertising...isn't anything sacred anymore!! I believe the Good News ought to make the news, and it should spread like wildfire. The church has the best message on the planet, and our worst fate is to be ignored.

Amazing enough, when you consider the life of Jesus, He should have lived and died without even being a blip on the radar. He was born in a barn with a bunch of farm animals. He grew up in an obscure part of Palestine as a carpenter's son. He never traveled more than thirty miles outside of his own home town. He died a criminal's death and was even buried in a borrowed tomb. Yet, as ordinary and insignificant as all of this seems, Jesus started a radical movement that millions of us follow still today!

We now have an ancient mandate from our Savior to "urge anyone we find to come so that His house will be full." This Spirit-empowered, word-of-mouth revolution must continue in our communities today. How is the "buzz factor" in your own personal life? How well are you connecting the cause of Christ with your own friends, neighbors, and circle of influence? Are you confronting your fear of the unfamiliar and putting yourself in the shoes of the unchurched? Ask yourself the tough questions, have the courage to answer them honestly, and start creating life-changing "buzz" all around you.