The Call to Adventure

December of 1913, Earnest Shakleton places an ad in a London newspaper seeking men for an expedition to the south pole. He promises a hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, and long hour of complete darkness with safe return doubtful. Yet the lure of adventure, and honor and recognition if successful, draws hundreds of applicants from every walk of life.
Men who worked as bankers, clerks, blacksmiths, and furriers all apply to join the crew of Shakleton’s Endurance, and he selects 27 men to join him on this grueling trial. They set out the following autumn, and find themselves trapped in ice just a few months later, their expedition lost and survival their only mission. All men survived by following their Captain, Ernest Shakleton, who led them through nightmarish conditions with his wits and God’s guidance.
The church today faces a similar call. In Acts 1:8, Jesus places his own ad, though it wasn’t recorded by Luke until later:
Power will come on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Judea, all Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
As we look on these words today, are we stirred with the same sense of adventure that the men who joined Shakleton were in 1914? Or that the Apostles were in the first century? Do we feel a call to set aside the trappings of comfort that we relax so readily into each evening and set out on the Endurance for the South Pole? Do you feel called to sign up to plant a church or to serve in a church? If you do, talk to your pastor, he’ll help you find a place to witness, a way to serve and share God with others. And if you don’t have a church, look up StoneBridge Community Church, as God calls adventurous souls to the next chapter of his church in Mantorville. And bring your friends to a free showing of Jesus Revolution at the Relay Lot (421 Clay St) on September 16th @ 8 p.m.
Until the Whole World Knows,