I have heard the debate before…do we want an evangelistic church or a disciple making church?

Which is more important; discipleship or evangelism and where should a church put their energy and focus?

Are we to just go deep in discipleship where we are after “quality” or should a church go wide in “quantity” and sharing the Gospel and be a mile wide but only an inch deep?

I guess I have asked enough questions so let me answer this age old debate between evangelism and discipleship.

The answer to all the questions above is “yes.”  That’s right the answer is we must be intentional in doing both equally well, simultaneously, all the time, without fail, etc.

To win someone to Christ and not disciple them is shallow evangelism and not true to Scripture. 1 Peter 2:2 reads, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”

After a person is born again he then begins to grow as he is discipled. If he does not grow he remains a baby in Christ and not a mature believer. Hebrews 5:13-14 says, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

A person can grow old without growing up!

A disciple who does not share his faith is not a true disciple. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”

The beginning or front end of discipleship is salvation. A lost person cannot be discipled so evangelism and discipleship all fits together. Evangelism and discipleship are two sides of one coin, not two separate coins. As a friend of mine says it’s like getting a corn dog at the county fair.  The hot dog and the bun are all together and you can’t have one without the other. One component by itself would not be very satisfying. Evangelsim and discipleship are a perfect fit.  They are not in competition.

Jesus’ primary call to His disciples is seen in His words “Come to Me” (Matthew 11:28). That is evangelism, coming to salvation in Christ by faith. Then Jesus said “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), that is discipleship. Mark records: “He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons” (Mark 3:14, 15). Jesus’ relationship with His disciples actually preceded His assignment to them.

Discipleship is the intensely personal activity of two or more persons helping and encouraging each other to experience a growing relationship with God and reach out to others as they share their faith. Discipleship is being before doing, maturity before ministry, character before career.

How is your church doing in evangelism and discipleship? You cannot do one without the other. Well you can but then you would not be a New Testament church!

Kirk Hadaway has conducted much research over the years with Southern Baptist churches in particular.  He also attempted to determine the characteristics of plateaued churches and what he called, “Breakout churches”–those that had grown off the plateau  and had experienced 10% or greater growth over five years.  

Many of you have read this research but I still think his suggestions are helpful. 

One common characteristic among these breakout churches: strong Sunday Schools!  Describing his research, Hadaway says, “Is there a strong relationship between the quality of Sunday School programming and church growth? The answer is YES.”    He went on to share that “the overall quality of Sunday School programming is very important to church growth.”

He also examined the characteristics of those strong Sunday Schools.  I have found these helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of Sunday Schools where I have served.  I also always talked about Sunday School not as a program but as a ministry!  There is a huge difference.  You may want to  use these characteristics to measure the effectiveness of your Sunday School.

1. Effective outreach programs. “BOC” (BreakOut Churches) used a variety of approaches to spread both the gospel and the news about their Bible studies and ministries.

2. High attendance emphases.  As old fashioned as it may seem, growing churches use periodic high attendance Sundays to build attendance, excitement, anticipation, and to provide markers for progress in reaching people.

3. Training programs for workers.  Hadaway’s research verified that training is essential to effective Christian education and to effective growth.  This finding is confirmed by the Search Institute research on factors which contribute to the development of mature faith among members.  Taking your workers to Super Saturday training or an associational training event or conducting training tailored to fit your church’s needs all make a difference.

4. Quality children’s and adult areas.  Here’s another point that is proven in much research: in order to reach parents we must provide quality children’s and pre-school ministries.  The two go hand-in-hand.  Adult and children’s leaders are partners in reaching and teaching.  When I pastored we needed more worship space and Sunday School space.  Which do we do first?  I led the church to provide preschool and children’s space first because I knew we would not reach the parents if we did not provide for their children first.  Time proved that was a wise decision.  We even punted on new staff offices and let that space become preschool space.

5. Goal setting and striving.  BOC churches set goals for their Sunday Schools and strove to reach them through faith and action.  Goals include more than numbers, too: increased discipleship, more leaders, more training, more people finding their personal ministries, more involvement in missions as a result of what is studied in Sunday School, greater stewardship.

6. Starting new classes.  BOC realize that the most effective means for reaching new people is starting new units of Bible study.  They recognize that older, established classes may provide quality Bible study and ministry to members, but new classes are more effective in attracting new people.

7. Channeling new members and prospects into the new classes rather than established classes.  For the same reason new classes are more effective reaching new people, ministry may also be better because attention and care can be more concentrated on a smaller number of persons.

8. Regular time for prospect visitation.  Does visitation still work?  It does for BOC.  Additional research indicates that when contacts are made is also important.  To be effective visitation or other contacts need to be made within 36 hours of the guests’ first contact with a church.  After that the likelihood of reaching them diminishes.

9. Major on evangelistic visitation.  Not only do BOC visit regularly, there is a specific purpose to their visits.  Those who visit know that they are to share a testimony to the effect of the gospel, or perhaps something they are learning in Bible study.

10.  More accepting of newcomers.  A major difference between plateaued churches and those that had begun to grow was their openness to new people.  This one is huge as we attempt to create an environment of hospitality and really show the love of Jesus.

Go back and rate these 1 to 5 with one being the lowest and five the highest to see how your church is doing in these areas.  Every church can improve and be more effective for the glory of Christ.

Plateaued: A plateau is a relatively level or stable period in the life of an organization. The word itself denotes a ledge. A ledge is a flat level surface. A plateaued church shows a historic, flat line on growth graphs when examining key statistical elements. Robert Dale defines the plateaued church this way: “When ministry loses its focus on extending and expanding God’s kingdom, an organizational plateau occurs” (To Dream Again). A plateaued church is not extending and expanding in reaching and assimilating new people, therefore growth ceases. “Plateau is a stage in the life of an organization such as a church. Plateaus are part of the life-cycle of any organization, including the church. A plateaued church is in a period of inertia where the church has little movement forward in the area of growth.

Is your church plateaued or growing? What are your plans to move off the ledge?

Church Health: I believe the key issue for churches today is church health, not church growth. When congregations are healthy, they grow the way God intends. Wagner says, “Church growth and church health are interrelated. Only healthy bodies grow well, and only healthy churches grow well. Conversely, healthy churches can be expected to grow it is one of the signs of good health” (Your Spiritual Gifts).

The enemy is working overtime to make our churches sick spiritually. We must guard the fellowship and keep prayer at the center of all we do in order to defeat the enemy. Churches today are imploding and it is usually not over deep theological issues but personal preferences like music style, carpet colors, etc.

Would you say your church is healthy? What is your strategy to priomote solid fellowship and church health for your church?

Church Growth: Let me share two definitions of church growth. The first is a classical definition and the second is somewhat more practical.

“Church growth is that discipline which investigates the nature, expansion, planting, multiplication, function, and health of Christian churches as they relate to the effective implementation of God’s commission to ‘make disciples of all peoples’ (Matt. 28:18-20). This second definition is more current and practical.

“Church growth is not produced by a program, plan, or marketing strategy. Your church’s greatest need is not a clearer understanding of its demographics, but a clearer understanding of its God. Church growth is not something we do or produce in the church. Church growth is not the result of any program or plan. Church growth is the by-product of a right relationship with the Lord of the church. Church growth is by definition a supernatural activity and thus is accomplished through the church by the Lord Himself. When Jesus founded the church He promised that He Himself would build the church. Church growth occurs when the local church supernaturally and faithfully fulfills the Great Commission in its unique context and with a vision for the world” (Hemphill, Antioch Effect).

Based on this definition would you say your church is experiencing church growth? What is the next step to grow your church that the Lord is leading you to take?

• People come to church looking for a friend not looking for a friendly church.

• Churches are friendly but it is usually to each other, not to new people.

• We have one chance to connect with them relationally. Don’t blow it.

• Encourage all your members to be greeters in the pew and in the parking lot.

2. Train your people with the skills needed to be friendly.

Some people based on their personality are naturally good at this and others can learn to be effective in this area. Simple things like…

• A smile

• A handshake

• Eye contact

• Wearing a name tag

• Remembering the name of the guest

• Invitation to lunch or dessert

• Focusing on their needs not ours

• Sitting with the guest during worship

• Providing a tour of the building

• Getting the information from them and inviting them to attend Bible study or worship again

• Inviting them to your house

• Follow up with a phone call or card

3. Bring in an outside observer (secret guest).

This is a person who will visit the church incognito and evaluate what they see and feel. Then let that person come back and share their experience with the whole church. You could use several people of different ages on different Sundays to have a more comprehensive report.

• Have this person attend Sunday morning worship or a Sunday School class as if he or she were looking for a church home.

• The observer will prepare a written report with recommendations for improvement and change.

4. Preach a message on how Jesus connected with people.

When you read the New Testament you see how Jesus started conversations and shared with all kinds of people. He is our example of how to love and care for people whether they are a new guest or a long time church member.

5. Conduct a Bible study for all Sunday School classes on “being a friend to new people” or “first impressions.”

Develop a lesson that would communicate this truth the same Sunday that the pastor preaches on this topic thus creating much synergy. The key is building a climate of Christ-like love that permeates your entire church.

6. The 5 minute rule!

Train your people to only talk with people that they do not know for the first five minutes immediately after worship.

Our tendency is to talk with our best friend about what is happening in their life while guests just stand alone and watch all these people in fun conversations.

What if everyone just took five minutes and focused on people other than their friends?

7. Pray that the Holy Spirit would change your church culture to be all that the Lord wants it to be.

Does the Lord want your church to reach new people for His Kingdom or just stay the same?

Is your church “user friendly” or “for members only?”

Do your members desire to grow and reach people for Christ?

Churches that grow and retain their first time guests have a culture of hospitality and Christ-like love that is felt the moment a new person walks through the door.

You can be the catalyst to take some of these ideas and put them to use in your church.

No one likes change except a wet baby and they cry through the whole process.   Change is a part of life each day.

Change is a challenge to every person and every church. It is often the thing we fight over because we tend to default back to what is convenient and easy, not what will bring about kingdom results.

If one is going to excel personally, professionally they are going to have to constantly change. The opposite of change is stagnation. If one chooses to have an impact on his world, he must fight against stagnation. If you hear any of these words from yourself or leaders in your church, perhaps you are on the road to stagnation.

 What are Seven Steps to Stagnation?

1. WE HAVE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY.

2. WE ARE NOT READY FOR THAT YET.

3. WE ARE DOING ALRIGHT WITHOUT IT.

4. WE TRIED THAT ONCE BEFORE AND IT DIDN’T WORK.

5.  IT COSTS TOO MUCH.

6.  THAT IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY.

7.  IT JUST WILL NOT WORK HERE.

Fight Stagnation. . Embrace Change. It is inevitable!

If you always do what you have always done, you are always going to be what you are right now.

Four steps to break out of a rut. A rut is just a grave dug out at both ends!

1. ASSUME responsibility for your own life. Refuse to be either an Excuser (rationalize failure) or an Accuser (blame others). Instead, be a CHOOSER and choose to break out of the rut you are in.

2. BELIEVE you can change! Stop saying “I cannot” and start saying “I can.” (Phil. 4:13)

3.  CLARIFY what you really want. Write down specifically how you would like to change.

4.  DO NOT WAIT for ideal circumstances. Stop saying “When things settle down.” Do it now! “One of these days” is really NONE of these days.   Ecclesiastes 11:4 says “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.”  (LB)

Churches need to fight stagnation too. Remember… the Gospel is all about change and transformation through Jesus Christ.  The time to change is now.

We have a twofold challenge…getting new people to attend and getting people to stick after they join and not slide off. Without new people coming to Christ and joining your church you will not grow therefore every person reached needs to be connected and involved.

So is your church currently more like Velcro, people stick and stay, or Teflon, people join and then stop attending and slide into oblivion?

“Assimilation” is the whole process of creating a climate where people feel welcome, “practicing hospitality,” showing people the love of Christ, leading them to become followers of Christ, and connecting them to the church.

If churches are not intentional in this process, they become a revolving door with as many people going out the back door as they have coming through the front door. We are taking the letters of the word V.E.L.C.R.O. to illustrate some ideas and specific helps. We now come to letter C.

C-Connect

Intentionally connect (Velcro) members to other people and a ministry.

Research has demonstrated that newcomers who remain in a church more than six months have an average of seven friends in their church.

Newcomers who drop out of a church after six months have an average of only two friends!

The more we can connect people to each other the more they will stick. As quick as possible get people involved, give them a place to serve. As a pastor I found that new members are some of the most eager people to serve.

A church should keep these three goals in mind:

1. KEEP those you reach.

2. CONNECT people in meaningful relationships.

“When people visit your church they are not looking for a friendly church they are looking for a friend.”

3. INVOLVE more people in the life of your church for the glory of Christ!

On a scale of 1 to 10 how is your church doing connecting new members to other people and to a specific ministry assignment? Are people going out the back door?

The next letter is R for Recognize

Recognize that relationships are the glue (Velcro) that cause people to stay and stick!

Assimilation Ministry is all about creating a warm, caring atmosphere where people feel welcome, make new friends, and experience the love of Christ in serving.

Remember that relationships are best formed in “small groups” or “Sunday School classes.” The big event may attract some people but what causes them to stick is the small group. Churches need to grow big (worship) and small (Bible study classes) at the same time.

Start some New Groups! New classes grow faster and reach more people!

O-Organize

Organize to reach the unreached. Research shows that nine out of ten pastors call their church “evangelistic.”

Yet less than one out of three church attendees has shared his or her faith with a non-Christian within the last 12 months. Churches must provide training for folks and plan opportunities for people to share their faith which will lead to life style witnessing. Become a Contagious Christian.

Is your church organized in the area of outreach, training people to witness, keeping up with guests, and making consistent contact with prospects?

Get your people praying! Organize a prayer ministry and use a Top Five prayer card where people list five lost or un-churched persons they pray for each day. What would happen if all your people prayed for five lost persons every day?

REMEMBER…

Reserve your best parking spots for guests.

Station greeters outside and inside your building.

Set up an information table.

Have taped music playing when people enter.

Allow guests to remain somwhat anonymous in the service.

Offer a warm, casual public welcome that relaxes people.

Begin and end each service by having people greet each other.

Offer a refreshment table for guests.

Put your best people at the front doors as greeters.

BIG TRUTH…If a church keeps everyone it reaches, it will grow, if it doesn’t, it will simply maintain or decline.

QUESTION???

Is your church more like Teflon or Velcro?

Now, what do you plan to do about it?

We have a twofold challenge…getting new people to attend and getting people to stick after they join and not slide off. 

So is your church currently more like Velcro, people stick and stay, or Teflon, people join and then stop attending and slide into oblivion?

“Assimilation” is the whole process of creating a climate where people feel welcome, “practicing hospitality,” showing people the love of Christ, leading them to become followers of Christ, and connecting them to the church.

If churches are not intentional in this process, they become a revolving door with as many people going out the back door as they have coming through the front door.  We are taking the letters of the word V.E.L.C.R.O. to illustrate some ideas and specific helps.

The next letter we will look at is L.

          L- Lead people to Christ and church membership. 

That is what we are aiming at as we move first time guests to become second time guests (what I call boomerang guests) then regular attendees.  We desire regular attendees to hear the Gospel and experience salvation if they are lost.  Then we desire for them to experience believers’ baptism and church membership.  

Charles Arn has researched guest stats and they are very interesting. His group discovered that guest volume needs to be 4% to 5% of worship attendance in order for a church to be in a growth situation.  What would you say is your average guest volume? 

He also noted that the guest retention-average of non-growing churches is 9%. Growing churches average 21%. In other words growing churches are seeing over twice as many guests return multiple times as non growing churches.  We often put lots of energy and time into getting people to attend for the first time and we should, but we need as much effort, energy and focus on getting them to come back for the second and third time!

The average church loses 5% to 8% of its attendees each year.  Part of the reason is the fact that the back door is open and people are leaving for various reasons. Churches must do all they can to close this door. 

One way to help your new members stick is to offer a membership class.  Call it Connections, Membership 101, Discovery, or give it any name you desire, but by all means start one!  The following are some components of Saddleback’s new member’s class and I have found most churches to be similar in what they offer.  Commercial…We are offering some great helps on the whole process of assimilation at our Super Saturdays this Fall so check it out.

• OUR SALVATION
  – Making Sure You Are A Christian
  – The Symbols of Salvation (Baptism & Communion)
  OUR STATEMENTS
  – Our Purpose Statement: Why we exist
  – Our Vision Statement: What we intend to do
  – Our Faith Statement: What we believe
  – Our Values Statement: What we practice
• OUR STRATEGY
  – A Brief History of our church
  – Who We Are Trying To Reach (Our Target)
  – Our Life Development Process To Help You Grow
• OUR STRUCTURE
  – How Our Church Is Organized For Growth
  – Our Affiliation
  – What It Means To Be a Member
  – What Is My Next Step After Joining?

I believe the pastor needs to be heavily involved in this class. You can use other church leaders and staff but new members desire to see the pastor leading this class.  The class could be taught during Sunday School, Sunday or Wednesday nights, or in one afternoon setting.  As a pastor I found that lots of folks preferred coming and doing it all in one setting.  We conducted ours from @3:30 to 6:30 on Sunday evenings with great success.  We included a meal but I usually kept on teaching during most of the meal.  You can actually get more teaching done in one three hour block of time than four once a week one hour settings.

As the pastor I strongly urged all new members to attend and also sent personal letters to regular attendees inviting them.  What we discovered was that if we could get guests to go through the class over 90% joined in the next month.  Wow!  When I made this connection I intentionally tried to get as many people as possible to go through the class. People want to know your heart and vision as the pastor and they want to know you.  

A new member class is a vital step in the assimilation process.  Do you offer one?  What can you do to tweak the one you have it in order to be more effective?

One of the challenges churches face today is not only getting new people to attend but getting people to stick after they join and not slide off.

Would you say your church is more like Velcro (people stick) or teflon (people join and then stop attending)?

“Assimilation” is the whole process of making people feel welcome, “practicing hospitality,” showing people the love of Christ, leading them to become followers of Christ, and connecting them to the church.

Churches must be intentional in this process or we become a revolving door with as many people going out the back door as we have coming through the front door. Scripture tells us to be warm and friendly to the people we meet.

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13

“Greet one another warmly in the Lord.” 2 Cor. 13:12

Assimilation is the process of helping people to…

Show Up…Stay…Stick…Serve

Let’s take the letters V.E.L.C.R.O. and talk about how to do this.

Again assimilation is velcroing people to the church in meaningful ways where they stick. NOTE: People today are not very sticky!

The letter V. stands for Value as you place a strong value on guests as precious gifts from God.

Three Facts You Should Know about guests…

1. Your church will not grow without Guests.

2. Your church will not grow if your guests don’t come back.

3. You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.

HOW DO WE SHOW PEOPLE WE CARE? There are many ways but let me point out a few…

• Being Real/Genuine
• Warm handshake
• Use their name
• Smile
• Listen (with ears and eyes)
• Talk in terms of their interests
• Remember their Name!
• Eye contact
• Include – do not exclude. Act like every person is a first time guest. Even your own members need a good welcome and a warm greeting
• Everyone who gives an announcement, sings, speaks, etc. should be introduced or introduce themselves
• When you acknowledge your guests, allow them some anonymity
• Teach your people to value all guests
• Every member should consider themselves to be a greeter!
• Provide a reception for guests before or following the service so they can personally meet the pastor and staff

The next letter is E for Engage

Engage your guests in such a positive Christ like way that they will come back.

Remember that the most effective way to get guests to attend your church is…Personal Invitation!

Here are the Stats on why people attend our churches.

Special need…………………………..1-2%

Walk-In………………………………….2-3%

Pastor……………………………………5-6%

Visitation………………………………..1-2%

Sunday School………………………..4-5%

Evangelistic Crusade…………….1/2 of 1%

Church Program………………………2-3%

Friend/Relative……………………….75-90%

Wow… 75 to 90% attend because someone cared enough to invite them! I am not sure our people know the awesome power of the invitation. Train your people to do this. Rich Warren was asked once how to grow a church and he said you need to do three things…invite, invite, invite! That‘s how people get to our churches.

Lost people think the church is only for members not them. They see it as a “member’s only club.” The only way you can get into a member’s only club is for a member of the club to invite you! I know this sounds weird but that is how lost people think.

How do you get first time guests to come back so they become second time guests? Create an intentional, loving, simple follow up plan for guests.

Truth…If you don’t have a clear process for follow up then it is probably not being done. In most churches no thought or energy is spent in this process. No wonder people choose not to come back.

Seven Follow Up Ideas (Use your own creative ideas but here are some I used in previous churches)

1. Quick Visit or contact (within 24 hours) with a gift. (book, bread, coffee mug, bass boat, etc.) (Sunday or Monday)

2. Letter or e-mail from the pastor/church leader. (Tuesday)

3. Call from the pastor/staff or church member (Friday or Saturday)

4. Sunday School connection (Monday)

5. Make sure the names of all family members are in the data base for follow up by appropriate persons. (children-youth workers, etc.)

6. Prayer Team (Get people praying for these people and their needs)

7. Don’t give up! Lovingly continue to make contact.

Next week we will continue this series.

Until then…Keep the Son in your Eyes.

I am not sure we can see a trend here when the increase is so small. With that being said any increase in any area of church life is a good thing.  There was a 2.2% increase in baptisms last year which stopped a four year decline. However church membership, Sunday School enrollment, and mission giving, all declined. Thom Rainer says it now takes 46 Baptists a year to win one person to Christ.

We all would like to see a “Great Commission Resurgence” but the truth is it takes more than a vote at a convention to turn this ship around or in some cases to keep her from sinking. There has been much said in recent days about winning the lost and penetrating the darkness, these are good rallying themes. However, there seems to be an absence of conversation about “making disciples” which is the heart of the Great Commission. A few thoughts…

First, let’s disciple the ones the Lord has already sent us. They will be in the pew or chairs this Sunday. What are we doing to help them grow spiritually? Where is the discipleship challenge coming from and what discipleship process is your church utilizing? We need to grow the body of Christ up, mature them, and after that (or while they are in this process of growing up), let’s send them out (“as you go make disciples”). They are already out there…schools, grocery stores, ball fields, work places. The more we make New Testament disciples the more evangelism and witness your church will have as these disciples witness, share, and minister.

So we grow them up, send them out, and those that are won are brought in and we repeat the process. Having healthy disciples produces other healthy disciples. Healthy churches are all about making healthy disciples. Discipleship is not a program, although programs using small groups may facilitate the process.  Discipleship is all about relationships, intentional, disciple making relationships.

Who is working on improving your church’s strategy to grow people up? Are you using Sunday School, small groups, mentoring, home groups or all and more? Someone must lift high the banner of discipleship.

Maybe the Lord wants you to be that person. It starts with one person who disciples one, and then the two disciple two more, and then the four disciple four more and…!!!

This book established Bonhoeffer as a rising star for Christianity. Tragically he was killed, martyred at the hands of the Nazi regime just a few years later. His death gave to his book an even deeper significance. Bonhoeffer announced his theme in the opening sentence of the book. “Cheap grace,” he declared, “is the deadly enemy of our church.” And then he went on to define what he meant by “cheap grace.”

Page 47…“Cheap grace,” he wrote, “is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Many people today have agreed with Bonhoeffer and are really concerned about the shallowness, the hypocrisy, and the lack of genuine faith in the men and women who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Many of our churches are imploding because of immature decisions by immature leaders who have not been discipled.

Rick Warren, for example, talks about “bunny believers” who hop around from one church to another without any identity, accountability, or commitment. George Barna produces surveys that confirm little difference between the way believers and non-believers live their lives. Richard Foster identifies Christians who so desire to maintain religious respectability that they have domesticated their faith. So afraid of falling off the deep end of excess, says Foster, they end up in the shallow end of superficiality.

Grace without discipleship, grace without Jesus Christ, living and active in us – cheap grace – that is still a problem in today’s church.

If every Christian in America were to truly stand up for their faith and belief on this July 4th week-end and the days ahead, we would be a totally different country. We would change this culture. Will you stand up for Jesus?  Are you willing to experience costly grace?