We Need A Hero!

In light of the recent massacres at Virginia Tech it led me to think, "What in the World?" What in the world is going on? How can a young man march into a major university and violently take their lives?

It is hard to comprehend that I am living in era with such hatred and anger that leads one to take the life of another. It angers me that VT has lost it's innocence at the hands of a selfish murder. It angers me that mothers and fathers will go to bed tonight and know that their loved ones are gone. I can't tell you how much it angers me and how I hurt for those parents to be robbed of so many precious memories, weddings , graduations, and grandchildren just to name a few. But nothing angers me more than to know that as a nation and a church we do nothing.

Yes I mean nothing. It is no coincidence that the moral bankruptcy of our nation is tied into the time the bible was taken out of our schools. It no coincidence that we went completely bankrupt when we as church stood by silently. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We pick each other apart and flex our muscle as a church to prove we are better than others but are we really? We are arrogant in our thinking. We are so busy with our bravado and our building programs to impress those that come through our doors. Jesus didn't need a building He went to them!!!!!!! He didn't say build it and they will come He said go into the streets and the byways. He said feed my children. I am grateful for what we have, but in the grand scheme of eternity, if we aren't reaching them it does not matter how pretty it is.

If we as a church stood our ground and voiced our concern then maybe just maybe we can make a difference. I support missions and respect the work and the role a missionary has in the local church. What I don't get is how we support so many missionaries but we fail to support our own local outreach. We need to reach our communities, neighbors, and impact our schools . Nothings peeves me more than to cut out outreach events because we have no budget. We have about 32,000 teens in our community and we are only reaching a very small percentage of them. It is not lack of passion it is about the math. Our own backyards are huge mission fields and yet we send our money into foreign countries. Come on people how lame are we.

It reminds me of a youth conference we were at in Pensacola Florida in the 90's and a pastor gave a heart wrenching testimony about his youth group. He talked about a young man that was in his group, a guy that was hard to love. You know we all have one of those. He said he tried really hard but Brian was just tough and a hard case to deal with. He went on to say they planned a fun day at a theme park and Brian walked around by himself all day and no one would talk to him. Well, Brian today is know as Marilyn Manson one of the most influential shock artists this generation has ever seen. Today he is single-handedly leading thousands to hell with him and he knows it. You see, Brian has a huge hatred for the church and the hypocrisy it stood for. I can't say I blame him. While we dance around political correctness, not being offensive, and making sure we stay neutral on all issues, he and others launch an all out assault on our teens. What is wrong with us?

To the families of VT our heartfelt prayers go out to you. We are praying for you and standing firm with you. We will not forget and we will learn from this. It is our prayer to impact our generation for Christ and leave no teen behind.