Battle of Schools Event - Pt. 1

Since the time I arrived in Avon, I have wanted to do something that would bring the students from all over Hendricks County together. So we decided to do an event called Battle of the Schools that is much like a HUGE pep rally where we will pit schools against one another in contests to win the ultimate prize: The Spirit Trophy. This will be an annual event for us and we are super excited about it.

As we began planning it, we realized that to make this event really work, it was going to take us meeting with the schools and gaining their "buy-in" to help promote it school wide. Any one who works in ministry knows that this is tough because schools have to be cautious about blending "church and state."

Today, God moved! We met with the "higher ups" at Avon High School and they have agreed to partner with us. They are going to promote this event school wide and encourage their students to go and represent their school! How awesome is that?

Are you willing to go "out of your way" to tell others about Jesus?

This morning I was reading the story in the Bible of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4:1-26).  I have read this story what seems like 100 times now and for some reason this morning a few things jumped out at me.

Jesus goes out of His way...

1.) It was custom for Jews to cross over the Jordan river and NOT pass through Samaria because the Jews and the Samaritans didn't really get along.  John 4:4 says, "Now He (Jesus) had to go through Samaria."  Perhaps the necessity lay in Jesus' mission rather than in geography?

2.) Jews and Samaritans didn't associate with one another.  There was a lot of bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans so Jesus' request to this woman was unheard of in those days.

3.) John 4:7 says, "Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'"  This was even more interesting because the Jews believed that they would become ceremonially unclean if they used a drinking vessel handled by a Samaritan, since they held that all Samaritans were ceremonially unclean.

4.) Jewish religious teachers rarely spoke with women in public.

You may be asking yourself at this point, "What is he getting at?"  It just occurred to me how much Jesus was willing to go "out of His way" and against the cultural "norm" to share His love with anyone and everyone.

How often am I willing to go "out of my way" to tell others about Christ?

How far am I willing to go to tell others about Christ?