MORE JESUS

Recent news stories featured on CNN, The TODAY Show, and in CHRISTIANITY TODAY might seem shocking as they reveal that close to 60% of Young Adults (the millenial generation as they are referred to) no longer identify themselves as having ANY religious affiliation. Some 55% of the same young adults did say that they USE to attend church or they had some religious afiliation. This would seem to indicate a mass exodus from the church amongst young adults. Many of the responses to the survey conducted by CHRISTIANITY TODAY indicated that what young adults are looking for is less MOCHA WITH MESSIAH and CAPPUCINO WITH CHRIST and more JESUS. As I look around Augusta I see a city that is filled with students who come here for higher education and job opportunities. I know there are many who are seeking not only to grow intellectually and to prepare for their professional lives. Many are wanting their lives to mean something more than their ability to OBTAIN the latest high tech toys and reload their Starbuck's cards. I hope that every member of Mann will make a commitment to reach out to every YOUNG ADULT they encounter and invite them to the GET REAL series based on the parables in the Gospel of Luke that I will be preaching beginning in September. Young Adults are indicating that they left churches not because of JESUS but because they didnt see JESUS in the church. One of the resources for GET REAL will be our Fall Bible Study where the goal will be for the church to be a safe place for ALL of us to ask the BIG QUESTIONS without fear( Who is GOD? Where is Jesus in the world today? What does it mean to be saved?) It is time for our churches to get real with Jesus...to strip away our attempts to market our churches with THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO STARBUCKS and get back to the JESUS of THE GOSPELS. More questions about Jesus are better for us than more MOCHA anyway.