Go Ed!

I am reading Ed Stetzer's Breaking the Missional Code book and had to share page 80:

"Churches that break the code are paying a high price for reaching the unchurched/unreached. They are discovering that churches that focus on the unchurched/unreached often create a degree of discomfort among some churched/reached. In other words, you cannot have it both ways-either the lost like you or the satisfied religious crowd likes you.
We have pastored and been around many churches that have made a commitment to focus on the unchurched/unreached. In churches that move to Christian maturity, satisfied churched people often miss the point. Instead, they want to go 'deeper' with 'meat.' Ironically that 'deep meat' is often a focus on the obscure or unclear in Scripture rather than on the life-changing nature of what is clear.
The irony is that most people crying for 'meat' are really crying for minutia. They want to learn the deeper truths about the times of the rapture rather than how to live the Christian life. True meat teaches people how to be transformed by the renewing of their minds so that they will live like Christ, love like Christ, and leave what Jesus left behind. But believers in church-focused ministries often think that it is more important to teach about controversial subjects rather than transformational truths.
People who want life-transformational preaching and teaching will find such at churches that break the code. Furthermore, they can and do go deeper-through deeper biblical study in the church but also through their own study."

There is much more, but wow. . that pretty well sums it up.
Lord, make us a church that breaks the code. Help us to awaken from our religious stupor to see the world around us. Give us boldness and strength for all that lies ahead as we seek to move beyond minutia and leave what Jesus left behind!