[This post is a part of the WikiConference 2014 series of posts]
Carl Meaderis is a speaker and expert in the field of Arab-American and Muslim-Christian relations. Carl is a great storyteller and repeatedly reminded us that everything is about Jesus.Carl began by telling a story of being asked to preach about Jesus (although not about Christianity) in a Mosque.
When he finished his forty-five minutes, the leader asked him to preach for another hour. At that point Carl realized, “I know a lot of Christian stuff, but I’m not sure I know Jesus very well."If we don’t have anything else to say after 45 minutes, we have a problem.
"Just one degree off of the centrality of the message of Jesus can mess everything up." -@carlmedearis #wiki14
— Michael Middaugh (@MichaelMiddaugh) September 24, 2014
Over and over again, in story upon story, what Carl made evident is the importance of everything being about Jesus.
He started a “Jesus-study” with his non-Christian neighbors but not a bible study… eventually the non-believers suggested that they read the Bible to learn about Jesus.What if Jesus actually meant it when he said, “The field is ripe for harvest”?
Jesus has a lot of power and sometimes we forget that. We begin to think that the power resides in something else. We think that if we change our approaches we solve our problems. Instead we should trust in the power of Jesus.
The .000001% of Jesus that I know has completely changed my life. @carlmedearis #wiki14
— Seth Hinz (@sethhinz) September 24, 2014
The slightest hair off focus is not quite right. When we are focused on Jesus, it actually raises the importance of other things like preaching, theology, and mission.
What if Jesus was the agenda we brought to the table? How would Jesus reshape our conversations?