Sadly, in most churches in the U.S. the ones who go preach and make disciples on the streets are looked at as the “weirdies,” the “unpopular” or the “fanatics.”
Certainly, the more “elite members” have better things to do- the pastors need to do important things with important people and the “in-crowd leaders” need to attend to “bigger things;” more “spiritual things.”
However, at Metro Praise International church we send out our best on the streets to preach- including all “top tier pastors.” Like Spartans, the best among us train the others in spiritual combat and teach even the young to be bold as lions.
The highest honor of our church is not given to those who sing the best nor preach behind the pulpit, but our highest honors are given to those who make themselves nothing and become the servants of all so that some might be saved. We don’t wait for the lost to come to church, we bring the church to the lost.
Like how heaven sent its best- God the Son; we send our best to the streets.
We are mocked, as Jesus was mocked. We are rejected and laughed at like how He was laughed at. We are looked at often times by the onlookers as “scum” and treated as “less than,” even worse than a panhandler, because we should “know better.”
Yet, we despise the world’s shame because we see the joy set before us. We know that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us; many which suffered martyrdom for their public preaching (heroes like Stephen, Timothy, Paul, Peter and John the Baptist).
For Jesus is our prize and our audience of One. We remember His Words and set our eyes on Him- looking for His lost sheep because we know His great love for them.
John 15:18-21, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”
