tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2253529165034405240.post-66636125740491221152008-04-15T13:00:00.000-04:002008-04-15T13:00:00.000-04:002008-04-15T13:00:00.000-04:00Holy crap, dude. Everyone seems either scared or stumped to answer this one (I think I'm a little of both).<BR/><BR/>I think the risk factor comes into play here. Think about Jesus--he chose a bunch of blue collar fishermen, a crooked tax dude, a "religious right" political extremist who probably hated the tax dude at first, and other nobodies to start the church. What a HUGE risk! He used a crazy naked dude who lived in a cemetary to tell 10 cities about Him--another massive risk. And both those risks paid off.<BR/><BR/>For those of us who've already planted, think about those first months before and after your launch--crazy depending on God! Why? It was a massive risk--we had no clue if we'd be around from week-to-week at first. We had no skills, and (like Vince said) we had no choice but to depend on God. <BR/><BR/>Maybe as we seek to improve our skills, we keep in mind that God may use our improved skills to set us up to take even bigger risks... which, like those first days, will lead us to rely completely on God regardless of those skills. In the process of taking bigger risks, we may just find that God has something much bigger in mind for us than what we're thinking (look at Paul in Acts 16:6-10. Paul wanted to plant more churches in the province of Asia... God wanted the European continent to know Jesus).aaronsaufleyhttp://aaronsaufley.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com