The 90 Day Challenge

Happy New Year, Chapel Hill!

Since deadlines require me to write this before Christmas, I have no idea how my holidays went! But my guess is …Christmas Eve was inspiring and a little exhausting, the Christmas morning brought the same satisfied fatigue it has 27 times before: I got up and made Swedish pancakes for my family, and we celebrated Christmas in the morning and Cooper’s birthday in the afternoon with our extended family who traveled to Gig Harbor to spend Christmas with us. And then, I enjoyed a rest because Ellis preached on International Associate Pastor Sunday, the weekend after Christmas! At least, that’s what I hope happened.

Now, welcome 2015! Since September we have been talking about what it means to be a true disciple-maker for Jesus. In Matthew 28, he commands his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” Even if we were inclined to obey that command, do we really know all that he commanded us? How would we discover that teaching?

Well, we call them the gospels. Four of them. And I wonder…have you ever just read straight through all four gospels? There are 89 chapters in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you read one chapter a day, you can finish in 90 days. So as you are thinking about all the New Years’ resolutions you will break in a week or so, I invite you to start and keep one: The 90 Day Challenge. Every day, read one gospel chapter. Then, using the journal we will provide this Sunday, write down two things: what did I learn about Jesus and what did I learn about disciple-making from Jesus.

Then, on the Sunday following that week, we will preach out of the seven chapters we have just read together.

As a help and reminder, I will post a daily 90 Day Challenge blog. It will have two parts: a short, pithy challenge from the chapter and, for those who want more background, a longer reflection on the passage. You can access that blog HERE. We will send you a few reminders to get you in the habit.