There is a great story in Luke 5:1-11 where Jesus teaches the disciples to not be stuck in a routine, but to be open to change when God is nudging you to try something different. Here, Jesus is nudging His disciples who are sitting on the shore, cleaning their nets, to head back into the water again, but this time, go a bit deeper. Peter very cautiously reminds Jesus that they have been fishing all night and had no success. Still, he obediently agrees to try again and heads back into the boat. You can imagine the disciple’s surprise when the nets become so full of fish that the boat is about to sink with all the excess fish.
Over the past two weeks, we invited our hospitality greeters to come and be trained in Radical Hospitality. Let’s be honest, these people give of their time and energy each week to do all the greeting at St. Andrew’s. They know how to greet, yet I asked them to come to be trained anyways. I am sure the irony was not lost on them, but our greeters are so amazing that 40 came to the training over the past two weeks. That says something about their hearts for ministry.
Starting July 21, we will begin to implement some new hospitality practices so that we can welcome visitors and make them feel at home at St. Andrew’s. We are simply expanding on some of the great practices we are already doing or have done in the past. We will now start recruiting some additional greeters for the 11:15am service. If this is your gift, look for me on Sunday to sign you up.
This story in Luke ends with Jesus saying to Peter, “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you will be fishing for people.” That is a universal calling for all Christians. We are all called to fish, helping the world experience the love of Christ through our actions. That is why we are expanding our hospitality. We don’t want to do anything that would hinder someone from pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Instead, it is our prayer that we are a place where someone can visit and feel the love of Jesus from the minute, they enter our campus. This job will not be accomplished by the greeters alone. It will take the entire family of St. Andrew’s to be the face of Jesus to those who come looking for Him.