We just turned the corner on another moment. If you weren’t careful, you might’ve missed it.

Essentially, we’ve seen multiple moments throughout 2020 continuing now during the first part of 2021…many of those moments, while memorable, generally won’t spawn movements.

These days, most if not all moments fade from the news cycle, and then from our mind space. In fact, moments can shock but rarely do they alter our psyche or change us such that they transform or radically reorient our lives.

Moments spur temporary chatter in the blogosphere, social media channels, in and around friendship gatherings, even amongst family groups, yet realistically, the effects of moments fade over days, weeks, months. Moments hurt! Moments jolt! Moments surprise! Regrettably, moments generally don’t revolutionize.

In the racial arena, names such as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd represent revolting and sickening moments of our day. Much has been made, and rightfully so, of the racial injustice and bigotry still residing deep in our culture and in us as people. Yet, let’s be honest, realistically the moment has passed and the impact for most has unfortunately waned.

Political panels, news groups, religious orgs have convened to discuss ad nauseam what’s wrong with our society and us as a people. However, nothing seems substantially different. Most continue on with the same bias attitudes and prejudice proclivities as if nothing appalling occurred.

So, moments interrupt us, but rarely do they change us.

Conversely, there is ONE particular packaged 3-day moment that transcends time and space, centuries and epochs. From what I can tell and what I know, it IS the ONLY moment known to create a continued movement of transformation. When this moment is understood, embraced, and adhered to, its power can correct the ills in communities, repair what’s broken in relationships, heal the fractures of family systems and even set addicts free.

We, in the church world, are now on the backside of the celebrations surrounding this 3-day moment of time: Good Friday to Easter Sunday. This 3-day period of time is a moment in human history that transcends church services, egg hunts, holiday ham, and school breaks. There is something mysterious and supernatural about this 3-day event. A man died, but then again, lots of people die. This man, 3 days later, came back to life again and literally walked out of a grave. If it is true, then it changes everything.

In fact, when humans like us place our belief in this historical and heavenly moment, it says,

“He died (moment) for everyone so that those who receive (moment) his new life will no longer (movement) live for themselves. Instead, they will live (movement) for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” 2 Corinthians 5:15.

I inserted the words more for emphasis as well as for reality.

Something took place years and years ago that still causes reverberations to this very day. This 3-day moment gave birth to a world changing movement called the church, and the church localized continues to breathe life into cities and communities all over our world.

• One 3-year-old local church in Newnan, Georgia, recently mobilized over 600 volunteers in just days to aid in the recovery and relief of the worst tornado to hit the state.

• Another year-old church mobilized supplies and people from rural, Ohio, to meet the needs of people they had never met as a result of a winter storm that ravaged Houston, Texas.
• A two-year-old church, in a city where lines of racial inequity have been drawn for years and years, was asked to stand in the gap by the city fathers and to assist in resolving the tension created by generations of bigotry.
• Still another church, only weeks old when COVID hit, lost its school facility as a meeting place. Even though the church planting pastor wasn’t sure who is still in or who had opted out, as a church, they decided to give ALL the Easter offering away to kids in need.

These four instances, in just one country, only scratch the surface of the kind of impact the church on the move has had since that man, Jesus, died and rose again some 2021 years ago!

Imagine what might happen if even more churches filled with people who have been impacted by that 3-day moment were launched. A movement of God’s love would sweep like a tsunami across our land and around our world.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”  Luke 11:9

Will you take a moment and pray with me that God would raise up multitudes of church planters, men and women, that will start more churches that thrive, grow and multiply so that the movement continues? This just might be your best moment of 2021!