Decisions That Define Us by David Crone

“These are some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we choose to live our lives. These decisions are not destinations, but rather journeys…”

• We have decided that teaching the gospel without demonstrating the gospel is not enough. Good preaching, good doctrine, and being good people are not enough.
• We have decided that having a good church club is not enough, good fellowship is not enough, and just being a member of that club is not enough.
• We have decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough, that just making it to heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless.
• We have decided that having good programs is not enough, that change without transformation is intolerable, and that staying where we are is not an option.
• We have decided that gifting without character is futile.
• We have decided that singing songs without worshiping is empty, and having meetings without God showing up is pointless.
• We have decided that having faith without works is not enough and having works without love is not acceptable–that our function comes out of our relationship first with the Father and second with each other.
• We have decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unthinkable.
• We have decided that confident faith is good and bold faith is better.
• We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly, that believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy, that believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd, and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.
• We have decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered–anything less doesn’t work for us.
• We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power–not the ones hearing about them.
• We have decided that living saved but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.
• We have decided that we are a battle ship not a cruise ship, an army not an audience, Special Forces not spectators, missionaries not club members.
• We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers: pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories. But we are not squatters, people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.
• We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign.
• We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.
• We have decided that we are a mission station and not a museum.
• We have decided that it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than to succeed settling for less.
• We have decided that nothing short of His Kingdom coming and His will being done in our world as it is in heaven will satisfy.
• We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world cries out, “Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6, NKJV).