If They Could Only Catch One...

Okay, I admit it. Making this apply to Church Planting may be a stretch at best. But I had to get this picture on my blog. This is my trophy. It is my baby.

I caught this monster back in April on spring break at St. George Island, Florida. I take my family down there a couple of times each year. You see, I am a surf fishing junkie ... but I am landlocked up in Kentucky. It's almost pathetic. My Kentucky friends make fun of me. They just don't understand. Anyway, I have to scrimp and save in order to get back to the beach each April and October.

So, about the picture ... I hooked this beautiful 6' 4", 170 lb beast (Bull Shark - meanest in the ocean) on the sunny, perfect afternoon of April 4, 2006. I hooked it, fought it for 35 minutes, followed it as it hauled me up and down the beach about 1/4 mile in both directions, and finally landed it with a little "crocodile hunter" tail grab by a local guy who was in my gallery of 50+ observers. I smiled, posed for pictures, then put him back in the water to be caught another day (or maybe bite a swimmer or surfer later this summer??).

But here's the thing. Here's my spiritual application, if you will. I cannot wait to go back! I cannot wait to get to surf fishing again! I caught the monster fish of a lifetime! And I know that there are more out there! I'm already tying leaders, cleaning my hooks, prepping my lines, and getting ready to go again. I even scraped up a little money and convinced a friend of mine to bring his family and split a house with my family ... next month! My second of three trips for 2006! Man, we are going fishing!

Now, just imagine our Christian teenagers out fishing ... being "fishers of men." In that holy moment when they "catch one," when they make a connection, when they experience the glory of leading a person to Christ ... they will never be the same again. They will be hooked. Truly, they will be "fishers of men." And they will want to go back again, and again, and again.

That's what we do at Mission M Possible. We fish. We teach your students how to fish. And we teach them how to plant churches. Check out our web site. Catch the vision. Send us an e-mail. We are already "chartering the boats" for next year. We'd love to do a little fishing with you.

Geoff