Emphasis Preaching Journal

Let's face it, we are generally more interested in what God can do for us rather than what we can do for God. Perhaps our greatest fear in surrendering to God is that we might be called to an African wilderness as missionaries. Few of us would leave tomorrow with only a toothbrush and a comb. The thought of being missionaries just doesn't dovetail with our pursuit of the American Dream. The United States is a fertile mission field. Yet, in summer 1997 at a Denver clergy leadership conference, participants were informed that church attendance nationally was at a forty-year low.