Special Announcement! That's Going to Leave a Mark

 ‘Oh! That’s going to leave a mark.’  For those of you that are 90’s movie fanatics, I’m sure that you are quite familiar with this notorious movie quote from the Chris Farley comedy classic Tommy Boy.  If you are not familiar with this quote, let me provide a bit of background about the movie and the quote.  The movie is about a guy Tommy Callahan Jr. who is a dimwitted, incompetent and clumsy goof-off.  After taking seven years to complete college he went home to a job at his father’s auto parts factory.  Throughout the movie, clumsy Tommy would get hit by or run into various objects and he would frequently exclaim ‘Oh! That’s going to leave a mark.’  Through the sudden death of his father, he was also given an opportunity to leave another type of mark, a legacy of saving the factory that he was left to run, that would go bankrupt if Tommy was not able to sell the newest product line that was being introduced.

To this day, whenever I see someone run into a wall, get hit by a baseball or get tackled in a crushing manner I find myself thinking and or saying ‘Oh! That’s going to leave a mark.’

 At other times I look at ‘leaving a mark’ in an entirely different context.  In the context of leaving a mark on people similar to how Tommy was trying to leave a mark on the factory and its workers that he was trying to save from bankruptcy. 

As I reflect on my life, I find God’s grace and relentless pursuit quite amazing and remarkable.  There are a number of times in my life where God would send someone into my path to shepherd me along and ‘leave a mark’ on me.  Even before I was ready to receive his grace.  As I look back, I realize that it was God’s provision to bring my friend John into my life when I was in the Air Force and looking for a place to fit.  Instead of connecting with the party crowd (which would have been easy to do), God sent John who invited me to go to chapel with him.  He also sent an officer into my path while I was deployed in Kuwait, who lead a bible study that helped remind a frightened young man that there is a God that loves us so much that He sent his one and only Son.

Several years later, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and as a young Christ follower, God sent another person, Milo, into my life.  Milo was a work colleague and a man of God.  I worked with him for about three years and he showed me what it was like to be a workplace missionary.  It was not uncommon for him to bring out his bible to share a passage of scripture or to share how God is answering prayers or blessing him and his wife with another grandchild.  Milo was always looking for opportunities to share his faith or to be Christ to his co-workers.  On one occasion he helped a colleague by refurbishing her bathroom as a surprise for her husband while he was deployed overseas.  Milo did not do this for recognition or money; rather he did this as a demonstration of God’s love to a co-worker.  Milo was intentional to ‘leave a mark’ on everyone who crossed his path.

 As I look back on the various people who have intersected my life, I think of 1 Corinthians 3: 6 – 9 ⁶ I (Paul) planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. ⁹ For we are co-workers in God’s service

All of the various people that God sent into my life have ‘left a mark’ on me and helped nourish the growth God has done in me.  In my life, it took several people to invite me to church or to share their story or to demonstrate God working in their lives before I received salvation.  I pose this question to you…who has God placed in your life to either invite to a service, share your faith or to allow you to demonstrate God’s love?  Who is God prompting you to reach out to and ‘leave a mark?’ I would encourage you to be bold and take action and remember that even if your actions do not appear to have been fruitful, you may have just planted the seed. God will send someone else along to water it and He will make it grow.

We’ve been spending the last seven to eight months looking for a lead pastor who will help Bridgeway leave a mark in the tri-county area. If you made it to Bridgeway this morning, you heard Tim announce that we have found that next lead pastor! Keep an eye on this blog as we will be linking a message from this person as well as a blog post he has written in the past. While we will be announcing his name on Sunday when we vote, we’re with holding it for now so that his current ministry can find out at the appropriate time and not “though the online grapevine.” 

Thank you for your continued prayer and support of the lead team as we walked this process together. And thanks be to God for his faithfulness in leading this person to Bridgeway. We hope to see you this coming Sunday when we vote as a church for our next lead pastor.

- Adam Lagacy