The New Year marks a new beginning.  The earth has completed its 92.96-million-mile journey around the Sun.  It has rotated on its axis for the 365th time.  It is back to the place where it started only to begin again.  We connect this journey to time and mark the new year as a new beginning in time.  We tend to look back and consider the good things of the past year and the things that we would change.  We look forward to a new year and consider things that we would like to accomplish or what we would like to see happen.  Of course, we all know that we tend to start out well pushing toward these objectives only to fade as the pull of the old habits often proves to be too strong. The problem is that if we keep doing what we have always done we will continue to get the same results.  This is true both in our personal life, our spiritual formation and in our ministry. 

                The good thing is that we do not always have to keep doing what we have always done.  Old habits can be broken by replacing them with new ones that are doable. Often resolutions are not kept because the barrier to keep it is too high.  A person decides to get up 2 hours earlier to go to the gym to exercise every morning. Pretty soon they quit because they are sleepy all the time.  One way to create a new habit is by replacing an old habit with a better one.  If I decide to be more faithful in Bible Reading and prayer, then I need set a time and place that can easily become a habit. Maybe you place Bible Study and prayer in a spot in your day where you typically spend time on social media.  I have learned Spanish over the past five years mostly by listening to Spanish learning programs instead of talk radio while I drive. 

                I do not know any of our pastors, church leaders, deacons, Sunday School teachers etc who are satisfied with the number of backslidden who are returning to Christ or the number of lost who are being won.  Wouldn’t we all like to see more reached. We all want to be better witnesses but often we don’t know how to start a conversation.  Preaches gravitate between the extremes of trying to make their members feel guilty for now witnessing to just not bringing up the subject.  When it comes to evangelism we would probably do well to start with the “doable.”  What can every member do to contribute to reaching the lost and backslidden?  Every member can pray for the lost.  They can pray for their family members, friends and neighbors (if you do not know your neighbors look up blesseveryhome.com and download the app).  We can pray for each other that we will have doors of opportunity and the right words to share in that moment. Maybe we don’t know how to start a gospel conversation, but we can invite them to services and events at our churches where they might hear the gospel.  Maybe we can ask the Lord what it is that we can do.  I know a man who is response to a sermon he heard decided to start making small wooden crosses and giving them to others. He has given out hundreds over the past couple of years.  Who knows how the Lord might use us if in this New Year we commit to taking small steps of obedience in the work of the gospel.