Notes from Columbus: 5/3/2005 Rick Olmstead

• We can't be a 'bubble' church, separated from the world.
  
• We need to repent of the Jonah syndrome -- he didn't even want god to have compassion on the evil-doers.
  
• We have to love more than we hate--to love Moslems more than we hate Islam; to love abortionists more than we hate abortion;
  
• We need to be a refuge for the world, not from it.
  
• Non-Christians see us when we picket, they see what we are against, but they don't have a chance to see what we are for, so we need to welcome them in a very intentional way.
  
• Let's lower the drawbridge. We tend to make the narrow way too narrow. We need to reduce the cringe factor. To put it simply, don't be weird.
  
• God designed the court of the gentiles so non-believers had a place to come as seekers.
  
• We also need to make a way for them to belong before they believe.
  
• Realize that reaching the lost gets messy. It will cost money, people and atmosphere.
  
• We need to die to our preferences, to live for what God wants.
  
• We need to lay down our 'Vineyard Pride' and be willing to learn from those who are successfully catching fish.
  
• We need to contextualize the gospel to the people around us now.