Every once in a while I am reading a book and I realize that there might not be a way for me to express my thoughts in better words than the way the author has done so on the page in front of me.  Today I want to leave you all with the final couple of pages from Ted Roberts’ book, Pure Desire. This book works through the practical side of doing ministry with broken people and near the end he asks a question:

So, again, why do it? Good question. I recently saw a news report that epitomizes America, a nation going down the drain spiritually. A little guy named Daniel had been admitted to the emergency room at the local hospital. He was beaten over every square inch of his body by his mother’s live-in lover who decided to use the boy as a punching bag. (“He had a few too many beers,” the man said.) The close-up of Daniel’s little face left little room for doubt that Daniel’s abuser was in bondage himself.

These were not people on welfare, lashing out in desperation. The mom and her lover had good jobs; apparently they were executives. But I know how Daniel feels. I’ve been there. Who’s going to reach his battered soul?

• Who’s going to help that mom get out of the insanity she’s caught in?
• Who’s going to help that man deal with his anger?
• Who’s going to break this cycle of bondage, abuse and pain?

There’s only one answer, and it isn’t the federal or state government. The Church is the only answer.

• A Church that’s a place of hope and healing.
• A group of people willing to pay the price of ministering to such a painful situation.
• A Church that believes in and has personally experienced God’s power so that they can speak real hope to such hurting souls.
• A group of people who have faced the woundedness of their own souls and discovered God’s amazing grace.
• A Church that doesn’t see the people out there as the problem, but as prisoners of hell with a noose around their necks.

I turned off that news program and had a good time of repenting before the Lord for complaining about the cost. Then I said, “Lord, sign me up again. And show us something we can so for Daniel.”

And He did.

Pure Desire, by Ted Roberts: pages 268-269.

Hurting people hurt people who in turn hurt others.  I want Grafted to be a place where we do ministry to help hurting people find hope and healing in the Good News that God’s love and grace are enough.  I want us to be a church where broken people find a family that lasts forever through the bonds of the blood of Jesus.  I want to be a place where people can encounter the power of God working in their lives.

• What is it going to take for us to be that place?
• What do you need to do to help us get there?
• What is your next step?