Last Sunday, Feb. 15th, it was my privilege once again to speak at James River Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri.  Actually the church is located in Ozark, Missouri, a Springfield suburb to the south.    The pastor is John Lindell.     I can remember a few years ago when a small group of people began meeting in a tiny shopping center located near the James River, hence the name of the church.    I doubt if there were then more than 100 people who attended the gatherings.     Then the congregation called a young pastor, John Lindell, and his wife Debbie, to be their pastor.     Today, James River averages over 9,000 in attendance (that’s by actual count!).      Their missions offering last week in cash and faith promises was $3.5 million!    Yes, even in these days of national and global recession.

Let me tell you why I love that church and its young pastor so much:

1)     The church rocks with FAITH!     Hebrews 11:6 states flatly that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.     In preaching in about 1600 of our Assemblies of God churches in this country over the past fifty years, I can tell you that faith is in short supply in the majority of those churches.    They are governed by the economy and short-sighted vision, rather than being governed by God’s directives for the local church and supported by supernatural faith (which comes by studying God’s Word).     Sometime this year, Pastor Lindell will launch a satellite campus and ask at least 1,000 of their congregation to leave the mother church to attend the new work.    Imagine that!   Giving up 1,000 people to start another church.

2.    Pastor Lindell has vision for God’s will in that city.    Proverbs teaches us that without vision, people die (perish).    Vision is not WHAT you’re going to do but HOW God wants you to do it.   Every pastor worth his or her salt will tell you their goal is to reach their city for Christ.  But when you ask them HOW they plan to do that, they look at you glassy-eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights of an onrushing 18-wheeler.      John Lindell knows WHAT God has called him to do and HOW God wants it done.     That, my friend, is vision.  Anything less is just dreaming.

3.    James River is open to change.   Boy, are they ever!     Rather than attempting to be traditional same-old, same-old, the congregation is open to doing whatever they must ethically, morally and scripturally do to win the lost.    Literally hundreds upon hundreds of people are saved there every year.    Each time I walk into that pulpit, I know that I am preaching to many people who were not there the last time I spoke, but who have since been saved and discipled in the ways of God.

4.    James River is a MISSIONS-MINDED church.     Christ’s great commission of going into all the world to preach the gospel was NOT A SUGGESTION!   It was a divine command.    Yet about 20% of the churches in our fellowship never give a dime to missions over the course of a year – which means that not even their pastor supports missions.     Missions is the heart-beat of God.   Missions should be the priority of every church.     It is at James River!

I leave James River refreshed, invigorated, and “younger” than when I entered.     I salute Pastor Lindell and all his eager, delighted and enthusiastic staff.     Would God that every church that bears the implication of being “Pentecostal” were as out-reaching and triumphant as that church!