Most pastors I know deal at some level with the frustration of seeing complacency in their churches around evangelism.

A sense that Gospel URGENCY has been lost… either personally, corporately, or both.

Here in the New Year, what action steps can you take to stoke the fires of URGENCY for the Gospel?

Here are THREE:

1.  Pray.

At our Strategy Conference last fall, Pastor Hal Seed of New Song Community Church said he would lead his church in a prayer every Sunday – it became a prayer that led to great harvest.

It goes like this:

“Lord, I don’t ask you for much today, I just ask that you give me your heart for lost people.”

Put that on your desk and pray it every day.

Put it on a PowerPoint slide as part of your church announcement reel.

Watch what God does.

2. Schedule it.

I don’t naturally feel an urgency to exercise, but when I schedule it, it usually happens. It shows up in my life in the same way it would have if I had FELT the urgency.

But then, as I continue to honor that scheduled activity, when I miss, I feel the urgency to get back into the gym.

The best thing you can do (other than pray) is SCHEDULE evangelism for your church. Make it happen. Make it SHOW UP in the life of your church.

Eventually, it not only bears fruit, it becomes part of the DNA. Urgency grows.

Show me a church that has found a way to predictably, repeatedly win people to Jesus… Strike whatever that is from the calendar and I’ll show you a church that complains about it!

Getting urgency for the Gospel down into the heart of your church starts with a pencil and a calendar.

Don’t know where to start? Start here.

3. Immersion in an “Urgency Context”

Great coaching, effective strategy, and disciplined execution are all required to win the game, but nothing replaces the pep rally.

The “pep rally” concept has been largely derided as “unspiritual.” But think about it…

Call it what you want, but SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS have happened in YOUR life and ministry in a setting where there was powerful worship, passionate and biblical preaching and a heart cry of a crowd seeking deeper repentance and greater faith.

Environments.  They’re powerful, aren’t they?

And when focused around ONE TOPIC, the Holy Spirit can do deep, intense work in the heart… restoring that sense of URGENCY.

We have just such an “environment” scheduled. What sense of urgency could be rekindled were you to attend with your brothers in arms? Or even your spouse? Your leadership?

It’s the 2017 REACH Evangelism Conference. Theme: The Urgency of the Gospel

I truly hope you’ll determine NOT to miss it… and bring others with you.

Come join us… and may the Holy Spirit rekindle our urgency for the Gospel.