My Book
Know Jesus, Bless People
Know Jesus, Bless People is the compelling story of how the congregation of 150-year-old Central Presbyterian Church in Longmont, Colorado, facing the reality that the days of “if you build it, they will come” ministry were over, re-envisioned its life as an inwardly strong yet outwardly focused family of faith. They condensed their mission to four words—Know Jesus, Love People—and shifted their vision from numbers of people in the pews to numbers of lives touched by the love of Jesus. In the process, church growth became less about increasing their membership than about being the biggest blessing to their community they could possibly be. “Should this congregation one night just disappear,” Pastor David Barker asked, “would anyone in this community even notice our absence, or would they gather and mourn we were gone? My guess is Jesus would want them to mourn.”