We should be diligently praying for the needs in the lives of others, always careful to recognize opportunities to minister and serve. We should be visiting in the homes of those who are struggling, showing by our presence and listening ear the reason for our faith in Christ. We should be going...to our Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria...and even as we are able, to the ends of the earth. We should be stepping out as leaders in the areas of evangelism, Bible teaching, missions, stewardship, and healing. Lines should be forming of those volunteering to serve on ministry and mission teams. As nominating committees work in the Association and in the local church it ought to be that servants are placed on waiting lists because God's children have been so responsive that it is difficult to get everyone a proper assignment. We should never have a vacancy!

If you have been born into the family of God you hold in your hands the keys to heaven. We should be flooding the streets of Bedford on September 25, excited for the privilege to walk, pray, serve, and witness among our neighbors and those who visit our county during CenterFest. We should be building up the local body of believers with encouraging and helpful counsel and never be found passing on lies and gossip that serve selfish ambition at the expense of the reputation and well-being of another. We should be building up, blessing, motivating, forgiving, and loving one another just as Christ does with us. If Jesus said that we are to "love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us," don't you believe He meant what He said and that it has value?

The church building is not as important as loving those across the street. Parking lots are not as important as loving those across the street. Church suppers and fellowships are not as important as loving those across the street. New sound systems, shiny appliances, buses, vans, steeples, office equipment, air conditioning, budgets, and cemeteries are not as important as loving those across the street. If all of our church property, furniture, and vehicles burned to the ground, the Church of Jesus Christ would continue to exist in the lives of those tender hearts for whom He died. Far better to meet under the shade of a tree and experience the fullness of Christ than have all the comforts for the body and miss sitting at the Master's feet! If we are overlooking relationships with the lost and failing to focus on the flesh and blood before our eyes, then we have moved very far away from the example Jesus has given us in His word.

The church across the street still has the message of hope, the solution for a world turned upside down, and living water for parched lips and dry swollen throats. We have at our fingertips the power of Almighty God, but not until our knees hit the earth and tears of compassion flood over us will we experience God at work through us. May the church be the church!

By our fruit we will be known. If we are using pillars from the past to try to prop up a tired, stagnant, and weak structure that hasn't had a spiritually regenerative effect on the lives of those across the street for a long time, then our fruit is bad. We must plug into the Vine and allow Him to nourish us and make us healthy.

If by the grace of God your conscience has been pierced and your eyes opened to see things as God does, then do not delay for another moment what you know must be done. Pick up the phone, go to someone's door, fall on your knees, and share what God has placed on your heart. Maybe it's to ask forgiveness for a selfish and hurtful attitude towards another. Perhaps there is a ministry or mission that you should have already been about, but your priorities were askew. Set it right now. You may be the one that the Lord will use to encourage and affirm your pastor in the work that he is attempting, or maybe you sense a special place of service in some Association task, of which there are so many. It could be that today is the day that you become a prayer warrior and commit to unselfishly lift others to the throne. Maybe you've been holding too tightly the physical abundance God has placed in your care as His steward. Relax the hand, open the fingers, and don't be afraid to let God bless you by your sacrifice.

CenterFest, Florida, Nicaragua, your local church home, the Association, your neighborhood, the person across the street—the relationships in these many places are your mission field and your responsibility. Don't neglect to count as important what God has already prioritized.

James writes, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." May the church across the street lovingly step into the lives of those around it.