A simple “hello”

I grew up and currently live in Northern Va.  It’s a busy place filled with successful business people, Lobbyists, Federal Employees, Government Contractors and stay at home moms.  It’s a “keeping up with the Jones” type of culture where bigger and better is the norm.

So, with that backdrop in mind, I took the Metro (subway) into Washington, DC the other day to have dinner with my younger brother.  When I entered the Metro, I noticed that no one sitting next to each other.  There were plenty of open seats next to taken seats, but no two people sat next to each other. In fact when there were empty seats people chose to stand up instead of sitting next to each other.  It was quite interesting to watch.  I must admit, I even fell into this pattern as I was one of those people who stood up.  Even though there were plenty of open seats, I choose to stand up.  It was there that I thought of this post.

As I was standing up I thought, “what if I sat next to one of those people and said ‘hello’, what would people say?”  Would they respond to me or just mind their own business?  The only reason why I was thinking this way was because New Life Christian Church (where I am the “Family Guy”) just opened the nZone and already there have been a ton of people coming in playing on the fields, watching games and working out.  As the staff, volunteers and I have been out in the nZone a good amount, a lot of what we say is “hi”.  We welcome them to the nZone which hopefully begins a conversation and leads to more.

See, we created the nZone so that people can discover God.  But no matter how many signs we put up about the church and what we offer, if conversations don’t happen, opportuntiies are lost.  That is why a simple “hello” or “hi” or even “hey” can be the beginning of helping others discover who God is.  It’s a starting point.

In the same way, unless we begin conversations with youth and people who we are ministering to, opportunities may get lost.  The reality is that most students are going to just randomly come up to you and begin a conversation with you (It’s unfortunate because we are really nice, cool people).  It takes initiative on our part to begin that conversation. So, right now, TAKE A MINUTE and look at what you are doing in your ministry to meet new people.  Who have you said “hey” to lately that you have never met?  Who have you begun conversations with and how are you hoping to move them closer to Christ?

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Experiences?  Post a comment and let the discussion begin so that we can all benefit from it.