“Greg, Did you know they actually listen?”
The title of this post is a quote from a guy who just finished teaching at Suncrest for the first time a few years ago. He had some great conversations after the message with people asking questions about one of the ways he had suggested people live out the message. My answer was something eloquent like “Uh…yeah.”
But given his experience in ministry, he had grown to assume that most people come to church, put in their time, and head out to lunch to start a new week with no real desire to actually take what they heard Sunday and use it. But his experience at Suncrest was full of people who were different: They came because they wanted something helpful for their lives and they took seriously the teaching and application. It’s among my favorite things about this church…people are here because they want to be here…they genuinely want help week in and week out to guide their life…and when things apply to their life they really take a shot at changing.
I was reminded again today in kind of a funny way. In our Integrity@Work message, I was trying to lift the conversation beyond just “stealing paperclips” and then I said something like, “If you have a box of pens from work at your house, you should take them back, but this message is about so much more than that.” Today, a young woman came in and asked for me. I was in a meeting, but Cindy (my assistant) went out to greet her and the lady handed her a bag full of pens from the last place she had worked. She didn’t work there anymore and couldn’t take them back, so she did the next best thing — she brought them to me to confess and turn them in! (The picture is literally some of the pens from in the bag).
I love it — both these simple applications and the more complex ones that the Suncrest family wrestles through each week.
.Real.Greg.Lee. 