Do you remember who introduced you to Christ?  What did he do?  Did she just happen to be there, or did she intentionally put herself in a position that gave her opportunities to share with people like you?  

My story spans a significant amount of time and involves a number of people.  There was the 5-Day Club teacher who led a club in our backyard.  I don’t remember anything about her or the club, but I know it had an impact.  There was the youth Sunday school teacher who made the Bible interesting to a kid who didn’t know anything about it.  There was the Christian man who taught 6^th grade in a public school and intentionally integrated his faith.  There was the youth pastor who made an outsider feel welcome. 

Though I can’t remember much about some of the people mentioned above and almost nothing specific about what they taught, but I can tell you where I would be if they hadn’t intentionally put themselves into places to connect with kids like me, and actively sought to tell me about Jesus.  Some of them just did what they loved to do, but they intentionally added Jesus to the mix.  The Sunday school teacher and the public school teacher both loved to teach.  Even a kid could see it in the way they taught.  But they were intentional about making the salvation message part of what they loved to do.  They also made it clear that they cared about a kid that few other people seemed to care about. 

What can you remember about the people who were instrumental in leading you to Jesus?  Maybe the most important question is, are you following in their footsteps? 

The leadership of North River is currently praying through what we can do to effectively reach the people in our community.  We are discussing what that might look like and what form it might take.  Whatever it is, doing it well will require several things.  We will need to truly care about people and honestly show them that we care.  We will be most effective if we do things that we love to do and intentionally find ways to add Jesus and the salvation message to the mix.  And, we will need to intentionally put ourselves in positions that bring us into contact with people who need to know about Jesus. 

Effective outreach will never “just happen” any more than teaching algebra will “just happen”.  It needs to be intentionally pursued in ways that are consistent with how God wired us.  Would you pray along with us that God will give all of us at North River a deep love for people, a passion to see them come to know Jesus, ideas about how we can best reach out to them, and the dedication to intentionally find ways to share our faith with them?