Dear Evergreen Family:
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, [Jesus] saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:18–20).
We’ve heard this story many times before. I think when we picture it, we picture a quiet, sunny day. Birds singing. We picture Peter and Andrew happy and calm. We picture them prepared and with enough “bandwidth” to handle a new adventure. What if it wasn’t like that? What if they were stressed out already? What if there were people screaming at each other in the distance? What if they were afraid of catching something and so they practiced social distancing? What if they said “yes” anyway?
I don’t know if it was like that. It could have been like that. We know that there was governmental and societal unrest. People were looking for change. Trust was scarce. And yes, there was something you could catch. People practiced social distancing, at least when it came to leprosy. Peter and Andrew said “yes” during a time with similarities to ours.
Jesus doesn’t wait for conditions to be ideal before calling us to follow him. I think we know in our gut that this is so. Jesus is probably calling each of us right now. Jesus’s call on your life may or may not have something to do with Evergreen. I can tell you, though, that Jesus is calling you to “fish for people,” and Evergreen is a pond teeming with life. It’s a pond that needs workers to bless and be blessed in return. The pandemic has slowly but surely left us with holes that are harder to fill than they normally are. Will you hear the call?
Here are just a few of the areas where Evergreen needs you to say “yes” to the call of Jesus:
Audio/Visual/Livestreaming Team
Youth Ministry Adult Volunteers
Mowing Team
Children, Youth, and Family Ministry Teams
Gardening Team
Administrative/Committee Roles
Will you hear the call?
Also, don’t forget to join us this evening at 7:30 p.m. as we discuss the movie Seabiscuit and the Apostle Paul’s teaching from 2 Corinthians that God’s power is made perfect in weakness! Click this Zoom link to join (the passcode is 360582).
May God bless us all.
Your Fellow Minister in Christ,
Mark