One of our young ladies who was raised in a very traditional church was talking to her mom on the phone Sunday after our services.
Here’s how the conversation went down, the way I understand it:

MOM: “How was Palm Sunday at your church today?”
DAUGHTER: “It was really good.”
MOM: “So did they give you palm branches to wave?”
DAUGHTER: “No. They gave us glow sticks to break.”
MOM: “Oh.”

I preached on Andrew bringing Peter to Jesus, and reminded the folks that they are each strategically positioned by God to invite people far from God to an encounter with Christ at Elevation.
And that Easter is the perfect time to do it. For the church, Easter Sunday is bigger than the Final Four.
People are uniquely inclined to turn to God during this season, and we must seize that spiritual interest with all of our might, creativity, and resource.

Then we broke Glow-Sticks and held them high during the last song to represent the indisputable fact that Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, has the power to break every addiction and stronghold that separates people from the love of God. It was admittedly cheesy. But it was freaking fantastic.

Yada yada. Another evangelism, bring your friends to church message, right?
Not really. I think we saw evangelism in a different light yesterday.

Lately, Proverbs 29:18 has become my sweet spot.
I’m trying to preach on every topic from a visionary perspective.
Whether it’s regarding dating, money, prayer, or fasting, I want people to fall in love with the future God has planned for them, and obey Him out of that love rather than out of fear and guilt. See also Jeremiah 29:11. Another killer verse.

So I pose the question:
What if we related the Gospel to people on the basis of how awesome they could possibly be in Christ more than how screwed up they presently are without Him?
Of course, we must tell them the whole Gospel. That human beings have been totaled by the effects of sin. That our best efforts fall miserably short of the glory of God.

But don’t stop there. Tell them that they are made in the image of God and that the Father sent Jesus to restore that image in us and make us new.

Maybe the main reason I believe in visionary evangelism is that I’m a product of it.
My friend Cody, who lives in Columbia, South Carolina these days, saw God’s potential in my life and invited me to church 11 years ago.
He actually had to kidnap me to get me there.

Then at church, a guy named Jody, who now lives in North Dakota, shared the Gospel with me and I bowed my knee to Christ as a 16 year old.

I brought both of these guys in to Elevation Sunday to stand before the crowds of people and realize the impact of a simple invitation to church.

Elevation, so much hangs in the balance this week. We’re on the free throw line with 3 seconds on the clock. We need to make both shots to win.
I need you to imagine the influence that your invitation could initiate in the life of someone you know and care about.
And then act.
Get them to one of our 4 worship experiences at one of our 2 campuses.

You can send an e-vite.
You can call or email or walk over and ask them now.
You can kidnap them and put them in your trunk.

The prayer team will be praying their guts out over the 2516 names you wrote down yesterday.

And we’ll all be rejoicing together this time next week.

It all starts when you imagine.
And then invite.