Video Transcript:
Hi, I’m Chris Mills, Interim Campus Minister at Auburn Montgomery and Student Mission Mobilizer with One Mission Students. And I wanna take just a moment to encourage you in the next action step of the Big Five and that is to extend invitations.
I’m sitting here on my front porch and as I think about the neighbors that are walking by, I can’t help but think about the fact that we are called to be a hospitable people, that we’re called to be a welcoming, engaging people with our neighbors on our street and with our neighbors across the globe. And so I wanna encourage you in extending invitations and being a hospitable people.
It’s been said that the secret weapon of gospel advancement is hospitality. Now hospitality isn’t just about entertaining people. It’s about engaging and doing life with others. And that’s what we’re extending invitations to do, is to do life, to share hope.
So I want to, I wanna encourage you in that. That throughout this season as we’re disconnected and we long to be connected to seek ways to connect that are safe, and that are healthy. And some of those may be inviting friends to join you in watching your service online. And then talking after the service about the sermon, about the service as a whole.
It could be inviting them to Discovery Bible studies that your church or your BCM is hosting. One AUM student had a friend that she had been sharing with and engaging with for several weeks and she invited that friend to come to an online Bible study through Zoom. And that friend stuck around and stayed connected with this AUM student. And that night, before she went to bed, that friend is now a sister in Christ.
And so God is using your invitations during this season, to connect, to engage to share the hope of Jesus. And so I want to encourage you to do that, to watch videos, to do Bible reading plans through your Bible app and talk back and forth about those, to invite folks to join you in Bible studies, to invite them to have a meal with you over Zoom or Facetime.
The truth is the idea is the opportunities are endless. It could be as simple as sitting on your porch and connecting with your neighbors. But God has called us to be a people that extend invitations to share the hope of Jesus, again, to welcome others as Christ has welcomed us. And so I pray that this, during this season, especially, that you will be faithful in extending invitations and sharing the hope of Jesus with those near and far, those physically on down your street and those across the globe through electronic means.
