A Titanic Opportunity – How can we offer hope….

Dennis Strom is an Adult Bible Fellowship teacher, chair of the construction building team, and has served on mission trips to Costa Rica with Living Hope.








As I sat in one of the pews upstairs and waited for the church service to begin, I marveled at the ministry going on within the sanctuary. The musicians were ensuring that their instruments were ready to play great music for us, the ushers were making sure that people had a church bulletin and a place to sit, several deacons were shaking hands and welcoming people and the ministry staff was down front talking to people who had been at the prior service. Living Hope is a place where ministry happens but a place that could provide so much more to our community.

As the service started I was touched by the baptisms of people willing to follow Christ, encouraged to learn that Living Hope is impacting people all over the world (people being baptized from Russia, China and Romania) and motivated to hear the “Titanic Opportunity” we have here at Living Hope. I want to weigh in on that “opportunity” for a few minutes… As Jason developed the illustration of people in lifeboats from the Titanic who are safe but unwilling to leave that safety to help someone else; the message for the morning was clear to me. Personally, I have been in many different countries all over the world doing short term mission projects. I enjoy them and find great fulfillment in serving in this way. As I thought about Jason’s point, I found myself being convicted about my short-sightedness. I have been walking by people everyday with the same needs as those in other countries, I have been prepared to serve on a foreign field but maybe not so inclined to share my faith or help those I know here in Bowling Green. I am very comfortable with my faith and I am not one who shuns conversations about Jesus but maybe I have not been focused on initiating those conversations. Maybe I need to share my faith differently and more purposefully? What about you ?

As the Church, Christ has called us to love God, to love each other, and to love lost people. Doing these things is what being the Church is all about. So what have we all done lately to love God? What have we done lately to love each other ? And what about those lost people? We all know someone who needs to know Christ, so what are we doing about it?

Maybe the next time you shake a hand you can envision it as an opportunity to pull someone into your lifeboat, maybe the next time you hug someone you can use it as an opportunity to introduce them to your faith and the saving grace of Christ and lastly, maybe the next time you say hello to someone in passing you can make yourself stop and spend a few minutes fellowshipping with them. Who knows what opportunity that encounter might offer you.

I agree with Jason that it is time for believers to stand up for “all” the things we believe in. That includes loving people who are lost, helping people who are in need and building those relationships that allow true Christian fellowship. You remember our call to arms here at Living Hope….. “Get to God, Grow in Christ, Give to others”.

As the church we have been sent by the Savior to carry His message……….we are to do so in our words, in our convictions and in our lives. The benefit will be ours if we impact our community for Christ’s sake. It will add to that “Abundant Life” Tim Brown spoke of this morning.

As I close I must comment on the altar call that deeply touched my heart. Does anything like people coming to the altar to pray move you to tears? It surely does for me. Seeing the call to prayer from our Pastor and the heartfelt response of our church family warmed my heart and motivated me to serve more faithfully. Going to that altar is like taking that special picture that you treasure for a lifetime. It is a memory you will never forget as you spend those few minutes with your Savior. Come on Hopers, we need to be about the work of the Church !



Dennis Strom