Sam Masteller

-Sam Masteller was first hired as youth pastor. At the time, he labeled himself "hyper-charismatic." For him, this meant that the church he was involved in was all about the emotional side of things - there was all these people falling out and waving flags, etc. The people wanted this, because this was all around the same time as the Brownsville Revival, so people were all about the "revival" stuff. Soon enough, Sam realized that this particular church was not a place that the lost can come and experience God! Something very striking that he said was that he loves the power of the Spirit and he loves experiencing God, but if people are not coming to Christ, then what's the point?! I totally agree w/ this. If people are not coming to Christ, then what is happening in churches? I believe that church people want the emotional side of everything – they want the shivers and goose bumps, but when it comes to actually reaching the lost and discipling people, but like he said, people become fixated on the form of the power of the Spirit, but not actually the power of the Spirit!

Towards the end of class, we watched a video recorded by an atheist. Something he said caught my attention and held it – he said something along the lines of, "how much do you have to hate someone so that you don't tell him or her that everlasting life is possible?"

This quote is hugely profound and I am still thinking about it. I wonder what effect Christians would have on this world if we took this mindset on – we KNOW that people can have a chance at life w. Jesus but we don’t tell them. I am constantly guilty of this myself, so I was convicted when I heard an atheist say this!