“Finishing a series is never something I love to do, but finishing this series with this message is critical,” said Pastor Rick Long of Grace Church of Arvada, Colorado. On March 12th Grace Church celebrated its 36th birthday. It was on this historic weekend that Rick Long cast a new vision for his church – the goal of fulfilling the Great Commission by 2033.
Pastor Rick shared with his church the growing movement of churches working to reach the lost and the work of a team of volunteers coaching churches for FTT- a team which he has been a part of since 2022.
“Of the five purposes God put us on this planet for, there’s only one we can’t do in Heaven – evangelism,” he told his members in a sermon titled “Finishing the Task,” the close to the church’s series on Breakthrough. “If every Christian who claimed to be a Christian – that’s 2.4 billion of us – shared the Gospel with 2 or 3 people the whole world would hear.”
It was a moment to check in with his church and make it personal. Pastor Rick shared that Grace Church averages seeing 30 people come to the Lord each week – and while that is fantastic news, it’s not enough to make a dent in their neighborhood.
“Did you know that in Arvada, a city of 120,000 people, 77% of them don’t even consider themselves religious?” he asked his congregation. “We have a big task at hand, and we will never reach people just by getting them in the doors.”
Pastor Rick went on to cast a larger vision for reaching and discipling neighbors near and far. “If we can do this,” he shared, “we will see the world transformed.”
You can watch Pastor Rick Long’s sermon in its entirety here.
