New Eyes

One of my all time favorite quotes--"Following after Jesus isn't just about having better vision, its about having new eyes." --Shane Claiborne.


God takes dead people and gives them new life. The old is gone, the new has come. We don't have to settle for old, sin-fogged eyes anymore. Christ gives us his! I have glasses that I almost never wear. I'll pull them out when I'm driving at night, pop them on, and it almost always catches me by surprise. "I didn't realize my eyes were this bad!" I thought I was seeing things so much more clearly.



The Minnesota-Iowa Baptist Conference annual meeting's theme this past week was "Seeing with New Eyes." Sometimes living in the comfort of a small town "Christian" community, a person's vision can slowly dull. I was challenged to see with Christ's vibrant vision!

Lots of great things are happening in our conference. People are looking at our world with new eyes; Kingdom of Heaven vision. One of these new visions is our Nordic-Baltic ministries; walking alongside pastors in countries like Sweden where 80% of the population is atheist and only 1-2% go to church. The fields are white for harvest!

God is giving a vision of church planting to our conference. Converge Worldwide has the goal of planting 350 churches by 2015 with 60 of those churches being planted by our regional Minnesota-Iowa conference! No small task-its one that requires new eyes.

What do these things mean to our church in little Fosston Minnesota? I was reminded that we are part of something great. God is moving, and he is inviting us to jump on board. Do we see Him and the harvest all around? Give us your eyes Lord Jesus!