“Last Sunday every chair at the Brier Creek campus had a sign on it that said “reserved”. In some cases it was quite humorous to see people walking from seat to seat a little uncertain of what was going on. In other cases people were utterly confused or even downright frustrated. The situation, however, quickly resolved. While maybe confusing, or even a little frustrating, every seat at Brier Creek eventually was filled which means everyone understood that the signs were a bit of a gimmick. What is still unclear is if people got the message and understand that this gimmick was designed to bring home a very serious point.

As of this past weekend, the Brier Creek campus is maxed out on Sunday morning. Literally there are no more seats left! Running parallel is another important fact in this discussion. Over the coming weeks, our church will grow by at least 1,000 people who are returning for the Fall. So you see we have a bit of a dilemma…there aren’t any seats to house an influx of people that we know are coming… many of them being new and unchurched. The “reserved” signs were designed to give our members a 30 second taste of what it will be like for these first time guests to walk through our doors only to realize that there isn’t a seat for them. They will be confused…they will be frustrated. To be honest, they will probably question if the church truly loves the world as its vision states. After all, wouldn’t part of loving the world mean having a seat open for someone new to sit down?

The irony here is that though we have a major problem…the solution could not be simpler! While it is true that every seat at Brier Creek is filled on Sunday mornings…there are over 2000 seats available between 2 services, and our venues, here on Saturday Nights! We are a church that constantly pushes you to mission within your neighborhood and workplace…but what if an important aspect of your mission filled life was simply attending a service at a different time?

The bottom line is that we need those of you who attend the Brier Creek Sunday morning services to move to the Brier Creek Saturday evening services. In doing so your seat will be filled on Sunday morning by another person who is not connected to the Summit, and may not have heard the Gospel yet! Obviously some of you genuinely have scheduling conflicts that make Saturday nights impossible. But for the vast majority that isn’t the case and it is a simple issue of preference. Are our preferences about service times really more important to us than giving someone else the ability to experience what God is doing here at the Summit? While I know we would all SAY no, our actions may be saying something altogether different.

If you are new to the Summit Church, this blog post isn’t for you…come where you can and when you can. But for those of us that have been around the Summit for a while, will you please consider laying aside your preference to see the Summit church reach more people for the Gospel of Jesus Christ here in RDU? Or will you not? Because where you choose to sit this weekend may be the honest answer. If you are willing to lay preference aside for the sake of the Gospel, we will see you this Saturday night at 4:15pm and 6pm!”