20/60 Vision

I want to take most of this blog to share about a new initiative we’re trying with our students that I’d love for you to be praying for.

This spring, we’ve decided to heat up the value of being on mission and relying on the Spirit to empower us to do that. We’re preaching through Acts right now, which is a perfect fit for these ideas, but we’re also trying a couple of new things to help cast this vision of living on mission and being bold in that endeavor. One of which was an invite a friend night where we met in the biggest room that UNT has for our weekly service and had a great turnout!

While I see so many students excited about Jesus and eager to know Him more, I also see many of them wrestling with fear when it comes to sharing about Him. That fear is especially compounded by concerns about making situations awkward or making someone feel uncomfortable by bringing up faith. Many of our students have friends in their classes and people around them who don’t really know Jesus, but they feel hesitant to bring Him up.

To help address this, our pastors have been emphasizing the idea of having 20/60 vision. It’s not a play on needing glasses, though we like to joke about that. Rather, it’s the idea that with 20 seconds of courage, we could change the next 60 years of someone’s life (and really their whole eternity, but that’s not as catchy).

We’ve talked about how we don’t need to suddenly become super bold, charismatic, or confident people. Instead, each one of us, with just 20 seconds of courage a day, can make a huge difference. Each week, we’ve had students share about how they stepped out in courage and the impact it made. It’s been so encouraging to see so many of them get excited about this and begin living it out.

As part of our large group time each week, we have any new people stand up alongside the person who invited them so they can introduce them. Every week, we have 10+ new students standing up that we get to cheer for! I’ve loved hearing their stories and seeing how God is working through simple steps of obedience.

I’m so excited to see what God does with this idea and the momentum we’re building around being outward-focused and loving toward those around us. I’d love for you to join me in praying that our students would be bold, that they would step out with 20 seconds of courage, and that God would use that to change the next 60 years of someone’s life.