CHANGING A CULTURE

One week from today, we celebrate one of the most important holidays in our nation—a celebration of the Declaration of Independence from rule of England. It is usually a very fun occasion, marked by food, friends, and fireworks, of course. But it was very different for the men and women who made this day possible.

There was a lot of hard work, many courageous decisions and sleepless nights, blood, sweat, and tears that made this possible. They did some crazy things. These daring visionaries were not looking at their own comfort and ease, they cared about freedom for their children and grandchildren. Many of them sacrificed family, friends, and even their own lives. And today, we are the beneficiaries of that.

To change the course of a nation takes hard work and determination. The same is true of any attempt to change a culture. Today, we live in a culture that is suspicious of the church. They see the church as always asking, hypocritical, judgmental. And some of that is well deserved.

At RCC, what we are attempting to pull off this next Friday is crazy. It is a lot of hard work. Many people misunderstand, some say it is too much work or too much money. But what we are attempting to do is change a culture—and that will be misunderstood. We want people to see the church reflecting the very nature of God—generosity. We want to love the people of our communities so that they want to come to know the God we serve.

And is it working? Yes it is!!! Just look around you. Many of the people who are coming to RiverTown are doing so because they saw a church behaving differently. They saw people who cared and were willing to roll up their sleeves and give—without asking for anything in return.

So this next week, we all come together because of our love for God and our love for the lost. We will joyfully serve shoulder to shoulder, sweating it out together, knowing that together we can make a difference. We can work to change a culture, one person at a time.

This past week I heard from some friends who used to live in Blountstown. They were asking if we were doing the fireworks show again, because they would like to drive up from Orlando, where they now live, to be a part of it. They came to our first Community Independence Day Celebration 4 years ago. They were so amazed that a church would do this, that they attended church at RCC the next Sunday. And they kept coming back. They both made commitments to Christ, and were baptized. They were married here at RCC. And it is obvious that they still look back on the fireworks event as a pivotal point in their life—when their view of church was changed. And when their view of church was changed -- their relationship with God could be changed.

I challenge you to call each of your group this next week, and remind them of the great time we will have serving together, side by side. And remember, on our summer calendar, we have encouraged groups not to meet, so that everyone can come together and serve on Friday.

See you there.