Change the Outcome

By Rev. Gary Moore

I am a bi-vocational pastor and my secular job is in the IT (Information Technologies) department of a major Children’s hospital in Cincinnati (I won’t mention names).

Our marketing department came out with a catchy slogan that is being used in print media and even some TV commercials … “Change the Outcome”. The hospital as whole has been working hard to sustain that concept.

It struck me one day as I read those words, this is what we as believers must accomplish.

We are a small church, and I find myself wearing many hats so-to-speak. One right now is finding a new facility for us to train and worship in.  As I search the Middletown area, in an attempt to find just that right place, you know that really great location with all the room we need at next to nothing in cost, but yet expandable for future growth – I am reminded of something.

Sometimes we in the church forget the whole aim of the Great Commission. It isn’t to have the biggest and most extravagant church facilities. Honestly, I have dreams for sure HOPE Christian Assembly. I have seen some land that is over 100 plus acres and can envision a church, youth facility, senior facility, wedding chapel, meditation garden, paintball field, training center, Etc.

I have a dream, a vision for our church and the ministries that will reach out and impact lives. But I must remember that as a pastor and as a church I was not called to build a church. I have been called to add to a kingdom, the kingdom of God. A kingdom not bound by denominational boundaries, but brought together by his synergistic love. You see, I have been called to Change the Outcome.

The children’s hospital I work for, wants to be the best; in research, in care, in whatever it takes to Change the Outcome for the children and families that enter into our hospital.

I know there are a lot of feelings of negativity, a lot of people are disgruntled (by the way, what is a gruntled person like?), many have lost hope. People are looking to AK, to City Council, to the new Middletown Hospital, even simple luck to change things in our town and in their lives.

Right now, Middletown may not be viewed as the most viable or exciting community, but it is where God has placed my wife and me. It is where he wants us to Change the Outcome.

The reality is we need more than an economic turn around. We need more than an infusion of money or some new strategy. More than some new church program. More than mere clichés and words. More just a sermon preached from the pulpit on Sunday morning. We need a spiritual rejuvenation! Not just a couple of churches coming together, but a family of churches – no believers joining hand-in-hand. Believers lifting up believers, churches lifting each other and pastors up in prayer.

I am reminded of that scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

The church they attend, the area of town they live in, their ethnic background or the color of their skin does not define his people. His people are those who are called by his name.

It is time for a change. Not tomorrow, but now!

Pastors, churches, people of the Middletown area, let us pray, let us seek God; but most of all; let’s Change the Outcome for our community both now and for eternity.

Reverend Gary Moore is the Senior Pastor of sure HOPE Christian Assembly in Middletown, Ohio.
Visit us on the web @ www.surehope.org