I was sitting in Bartelli's Pizzeria the other day trying to have a conversation. I say "Trying" because I seemed to be the only one talking. The dude I was attempted to converse with was not all that interested in picking up much of a dialogue.
“So how is your day going?”
“Ok”
“What do you do for a living?”
“Work at Sprint”
“Where do you live?”
“Southside”
This may not be exact, but is pretty darn close. I tried and tried to get this fellow to follow me into a conversation so I could talk to him about this Church we are planting here. He just was not interested. I found this odd, because he had met us at Bartelli’s specifically to TALK ABOUT THE CHURCH!
I was baffled for a bit until I spotted something. I mentioned the Kansas City Chiefs and he looked excited. I began asking him about the upcoming football season and if he was a fan. About 30 mins later, I had learned he goes to KC every year and watches them play at Arrowhead stadium. We had talked about their draft picks, their new Offensive Line, the recent acquisition of Steve Breaston, and lots more. We had an awesome conversation but not one mention of the Church came up. At the end of the conversation, he stated, “Whenever you start having weekly services, I’ll come check it out.”
I learned a lesson just then. God’s love sounds like the Kansas City Chiefs to some people. It sounds like baking to others. To some people it may even sound like bicycling, car restoring, house painting, music making, or flying. Caring about what people care about, is the key. People are attracted to people, not organizations. My father always told me, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
People don’t want to know your 5 year plan, how your small groups work, or if you have an awesome kids program. They want to know that you care about them. So talk to people about what matters to them. Talk about football. Because the NFL can sound like love to some people.
A few weeks after that meeting I was lamenting that there was a family there that night that I had not had a chance to tell about what our church plant was all about. Someone close to that family stopped me and stated that the family had told them that they were impressed that we really wanted to know about THEM more than we wanted to tell them about what we were doing and that they really liked that. That family is now part of our team.
Here is the lesson I learned. Our world is hurting and needs something. What they need is for people that claim the name of Christ to love them like Christ loved them, to care about them, and take interest in THEIR lives. Churches are built one relationship at a time. Who can you talk to this week and let them know that you care about them?
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