80%

80%. 32,000 people within 3 miles of our current church address. Researchers are now saying that within a few years that will rise another 5%, to 85%. 80% of people in America, in South Carolina, in Columbia... do not attend church consistently.

They are NOT our enemy. THEY are not the bad guys/girls. They are not horrible people. They are people that seemingly have seen that church has nothing to be excited about, interested in, or helpful to them. They are the 80% that are tired of being beat up for having differing opinions at times. 80%.

Estimated 32,000 people within 3 miles of our current church address stay home on Sunday mornings. They stay home while we go to church and feel spiritually superior. But are we? Are we even spiritually mature or concerned at all, if we don't have the mindset to do all we can to reach those 32,000? Are we spiritually strong at all, if we would prefer to have our songs played, our "Holy Spirit" displayed, our opinions honored...all while 32,000 miss out on the greatest story ever told? 32,000.

We have something to get excited about...AN EMPTY TOMB! We have something to be thankful for...A BLOOD STAINED CROSS! We have something to share with others... THE MIRACLE OF A SECOND CHANCE! Yet, we gather in our brick and mortar buildings each and every week, with our mouths closed and our hearts hard - unless we do church and hear sermons preached the way we think they should be. What's the problem with that? Jesus said He wasn't here to reach you - the 20% that actually attend church and trust Jesus. Jesus said He was here to reach them - the 80% that have written the Gospel off.

So...my question to you is this - do you care about the 80%? Do you want to reach the 32,000? Are you ready to reach the 32,000? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to bring everyone you know with you? Here's the 3 things you have to do in order to grow Radiate and help switch the statistics:

1. PRAY - Pray and ask God to help you. Ask for boldness, love, consideration, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pray that God would bring people into your life that you can invite to church and brag on Him. Pray that God would help you put every thing aside, so that you can do whatever it takes, in life and in church, to reach 32,000 people that need to hear about the empty tomb, and that need to connect to the LIFE of the church!
2. INVITE - John 1:40-42 tells of the first thing Andrew did was get his brother Simon and bring him to a place where he could meet Jesus. That's our job... bring people to a place where they can meet the Savior, Jesus. That place for us, is Radiate Church. INVITE, INVITE, INVITE and then when you don't know what else to do INVITE some more!
3. GET EXCITED - Get excited first about the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. Get excited about coming to your church, to celebrate with your church family! Get excited that the Sunday your friend/family member may come, could be THE Sunday they meet Jesus. GET EXCITED!

So...here we go! Let's all plug in to something bigger.

PS: To answer a question that we will be asked, and take a line from Perry Noble... are we all about numbers? Yep! Because every single number is a person that's going somewhere. We just want them to go to the right place!