A Call To Change

A letter from my Brother, William Hoagland, in it's entirety.

"Just yesterday I was home with some friends when one of them pointed toward the window and mentioned that a cop was running past us. We all moved out the door to see several cop cars rushing by. As soon as they pasted by, a good friend of mine pulled into my yard with a sense of urgency. Although his body had not completely abandoned his vehicle he was already shouting to us, telling us to get in the house. Before we could understand what he was telling us we heard over 15 shots and felt the bullets break the air over our heads. We went back into the house, warning everyone of what was happening, looking out the windows, searching for understanding.

Minutes later we heard part of the story. A man had murdered someone about 300 yards behind the house where we were at. As he fled the scene an under cover cop started to pursue him. The man went over a fence and fell into the school property right beside us. The cop called for backup and the police managed to trap the man at a fence after he had ran through the parking lot. At this point the man reached for his weapon and 4 cops shot him down a block away from the house where we were at.

If you were to draw a point there; where this man died, and with a half mile radius draw a circle, you would probably find over 15 religious buildings, all claiming to be Christian, within the circumference.

Some movements today are fervently dedicated when it comes to building religious production studios. They are about building the biggest, most technological and attractive environments as possible. Their goals include building more edifices in their community, country and even around the world. I guess people within those movements believe buildings change the heart of man and better buildings improve the efficiency. They pour time and resources into these buildings and their weekend theatrical events. There must be something more than just entertainment going on. Would someone actually believe that entertainment changes the heart of man? Yet amongst these many different buildings we find so much evil happening such as the previously mentioned act of hatred. How many more buildings do we have to build, and how many more services need to be organized, for us to make a difference in our communities? I think I speak the truth when I say, buildings do not change the hearts of man, and services do not change the hearts of man, only God changes the hearts of man.

Somewhere we have forgotten that God has chosen not to work through buildings but through people. It seems like we have forgotten that the Great Commission is fulfilled by making disciples and going, not “church planting” and attracting. We have focused our resources into buildings, maintenance and salaries neglecting the poor, the widows, the orphans, the outcast, the oppressed, those in prison and the persecuted. We have become more concerned about the condition of our services instead of the condition of our community.

We, brothers and sisters, have failed! We have failed because of our foolish decisions and selfish desires. When we make no difference in our communities we loose our flavor, we are not being light, and we are not fulfilling our mission. By becoming stale, stagnant and un-influential we leave our communities with no hope; even more, we participate in the death of our community. Maybe that is what the Spirit was trying to teach me when I estimated that there are more than 15 “christian” buildings and there were more than 15 bullets that put a man to his death in our community.

I write this to encourage change; a change of heart and of lifestyle; a change in our communities and in the world. I hope that you as a reader are encouraged to live up to your calling and I also offer two ideas for you to meditate on. I hope that you would not take these ideas and turn them into clichés but instead meditate on them, expecting them to cause some type of change in your lifestyle.

1. Christians need to stop going to “church” & start being the Church; &

2. Christians need to stop loving their services & start loving their neighbors.

May His Kingdom come and His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! "