Two days away from MOMENTUM 2018: MORE THAN ORDINARY and I'm starting to get PUMPED UP!  But in order to make sure that I'm not just excited for this year's conference but that I'm also PREPARED, I'm offline this entire week.  So no blog post and no Periscope today.  

But to help get you (and me) in the mood for the conference, I am reposting what I wrote 4 years ago, after Momentum 2014.  And boy did that do the trick!  God was glorified back then and I got a good feeling that He will be glorified again... AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!

And for those who aren't gonna be there, be sure to follow The HOPE Association on social media for highlights and updates throughout the weekend.

Recap of Momentum 2014: STRIVE FOR GREATNESS

Build Your kingdom here.
Let the darkness fear.
Show Your mighty hand. 
Heal our streets and land.

Set Your church on fire. 
Win this nation back.
Change the atmosphere. 
Build Your kingdom here.
We pray!

Lyrics from BUILD YOUR KINGDOM HERE
by Rend Collective Experiment

I don’t know what you did last weekend, but I guarantee you it couldn’t have been as uplifting, inspiring and just downright AWESOME as what I did!

That’s because I joined hands with more than 300 young people from around North America – from Toronto to Montreal to New York to Chicago to DC – at Momentum 2014.  They came from all over the United States and Canada with one purpose in mind…TO BUILD GOD’S KINGDOM HERE!

If you’ve never heard the song above, you need to click on the link and listen.  It unintentionally ended up becoming the theme song of our weekend.  The video link is good but doesn’t really do justice to what it felt like every time we sang that song.  It was more than song; it was the cry of our collective heart.  And every time we sang it, it got a little bit louder and you felt the floor shaking just a little bit more.

Because that is what MOMENTUM is all about!  It’s about each of us – individual members of the Body of Christ – coming together for a greater purpose.  We come together and submit our gifts, our talents, our abilities, and most importantly, our wills – all for the sake of God’s kingdom.  And man does it feel good!

This year, the theme of the conference was STRIVE FOR GREATNESS.  We talked about how “greatness” may be an elusive concept in the world (is it riches?  Fame?  Influence?  Sucesss? etc), but not in God’s eyes.  God defines greatness very simply.  It all boils down to one word….

FAITHFULNESS.

Greatness isn’t in doing the BIG things for God; it’s in doing the RIGHT things for God – and doing those right things faithfully.  It’s in discerning His voice to know WHAT God wants from me, and then being faithful in HOW I implement what He’s asked me to do.

For example, who in the Bible is called great?  Can you think of any examples?  There are two very easy ones that come to mind from the New Testament.

The first is John the Baptist.  Jesus said about him, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).

Wow!  That’s quite a compliment.  What made John so great?  Did he heal a bunch of sick people?  Do a bunch of miracles?  Feed lots of poor people?  Make a bunch of money?  Or maybe he preached lots of really great sermons and had his own blog? (wink wink)

NO, NO and NO.  He didn’t do any miracles.  He didn’t heal any sick people.  He didn’t preach great sermons; in fact he only had one sermon and he kept recycling it over and over (a preacher’s dream!).

So how could he be considered great?  What did he do to make Jesus call him great and say that, in fact, no one is greater?

Simple.  He only did one thing and he did it faithfully.  He preached a message of repentance.  Just one message repeated over and over.  Why?  Because that is what he was called to do.  God gave him one job and John faithfully dedicated his entire life to fulfill that calling.  

And Jesus said that made him great.

Another example – the Virgin Mary, the honored Mother of God.  What does the New Testament say about her?

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed (aka GREAT).  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.”  Luke 1:46-49

So what made her so great?  On the surface, she did even less than John!  He at least tried to preach; but Virgin Mary never said one sermon in her life.  In fact, we hear very little about anything she said or did at all.  So how could she be so great?

Like John, Virgin Mary didn’t do a lot of things; but she did do the right ones.  She only did one thing and that one thing made her the greatest in God’s eyes.

What was that one thing?  She said YES.  She said YES to God’s calling for her life.  She was asked by God to do one thing and she accepted it saying “Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Once again, we see that greatness boils down to only one thing…FAITHFULNESS TO GOD’S CALLING.

Regardless of who you are, or how smart you are, or how rich you are, or how famous you are… none of that stuff will determine your greatness when all is said and done.  What will make you great is whether or not you have:

a) Discerned God’s calling for your life (calling does not equal vocation; it is much bigger than that.  I can write more on that subject later)

b) Been faithful to that calling

The money won’t last.  The fame will disappear.  The diplomas will be rendered useless.  The only that will stand with us when we appear before our Maker is our faithfulness.  That will be what we hold on to and what God looks at when determining our “greatness” in His kingdom.

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”  (Matthew 25:21)

For discussion:  what do you think of my definition of greatness?  Do you agree or disagree?