We were reminded once again that our Church truly is, “A place of Restoration.” We witnessed the public declaration of Christ by some 30 people as we celebrated their Baptism. The Church was on fire with great rejoicing and celebrating. Way to go Salem First!

Evangelism is not an option for the church…it is a command! Matthew 28:18-20 is our mandate.

People that meet Jesus have a desire for others to meet Him! We saw this so clearly with those who were baptized.The power of their testimonies was unforgettable. WOW, did the transforming power of Jesus light up our flock! I was reminded, our job is not to legislate the morality of people who don’t know Christ…but rather to introduce them to Him! We catch ‘em and He cleans them.

The world will NOT BE CHANGED by what we believe but rather how we behave!

I am NOT praying for merely an amazing church service next week…but rather an Encounter with the LIVING Christ that will change lives. The majority of our city is unchurched.On any given Sunday, only about 20% of the population is in church. That leaves over 100,000 unchurched people that we can reach out to. Take a look at that line again…EVERY single one of those people have a SOUL…THEY MATTER TO GOD and they SHOULD matter to us! JESUS changes people. It’s not our job to change someone…but rather to get them to a place where they can meet Jesus and HE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!

I want you to ask you to join me this week in DOING all that we can to invite people to church, and secondly, BEGGING God to do something amazing this weekend. Church…let’sPRAY like crazy and work as hard as we can to INVITE people to church next weekend…and let’s trust HIM to be the difference maker!!!

I hope you all have an amazing week! I can’t WAIT to see what Jesus does at Salem First next Sunday!

Pastor Dave

P.S. Don’t forget, we’d like to leave our closest parking for guests and senior adults. We’ll meet you at Park and Ride and get you from car door to front door in one of our “famous” Salem First Shuttles.

BTW – How about our fantastic shuttle drivers and parking lot attendants?!