Lay Liberation – Zaccheus

For nearly 20 years Living Word has gone to the mission field, conducted street witnessing and organized servant evangelism and community outreach. Recently the Holy Spirit has impressed me with the fact that we aren’t tapping the full potential of our congregation. In order to grow our influence we need to decentralize ministry. Our church needs to experience what I call a ‘lay liberation movement’.

In the gospel of Luke the bible tells talks about a tax collector named Zaccheus who climbed a tree to see Jesus. Gary Albig who runs his own tree service has climbed many trees in his business as an arborist. His life changed one summer evening when our teams were picking up trash in the city park. When Gary learned where the workers went to church, he attended Living Word and received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Now Gary spends part of his of time servicing the tree removal needs of elderly and disabled homeowners. Gary’s efforts have gained the attention of our city parks department who call on him regularly for help. Gary is an example of what I call homegrown outreach. Like my mom used to say “homegrown is always better than store bought”.