What is Radical?

Well, first let me go ahead and address the title of the blog....I know "Gone Radical" isn't proper English, but thankfully this is not a college paper thats going to be graded, thankfully those days are behind me. You will find that I make grammetical errors frequently, but I hope that you can see past that when reading this. As I was thinking about what I wanted the title to be, for some reason Alan Jackson's song, "Gone Country" came to mind, I don't even listen to country music that much so I'm not sure why this song came to mind but it works. The line in the chorus about going back to her roots is especially applicable to my blog. When people read this I want them to say, "She's gone radical, back to her roots!" I love the "There she goes" part, too. So here I go!!!!

What is Radical? Well, for the coming year it is five things. Taken directly from the Radical Website these five things are:

•First, we want to pray for the entire world. Through a prayer emphasis that revolves around Operation World, we want to pray individually and as a faith family for the entire world over the course of the year. We want to give ourselves to strategic prayer and fasting emphases as a church through our worship gatherings, small groups, and many other avenues.

•Second, we want to read through the entire Word. Beginning in January, we are going to walk through the story of Scripture together day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month. We are going to participate in daily Bible readings and weekly worship gatherings, family worship times, and small group discussions that revolve around what we are reading in Scripture. We want to know God fully and love God wholly through a deep knowledge of His Word.

•Third, we want to sacrifice our money for a specific purpose. As a church, we are going to set a cap on our spending at the most basic level we can in order to free up as many of our resources as possible for the sake of urgent spiritual and physical need in the world. At the same time, we as individuals and families across the church are going to radically minimize our spending on ourselves by setting a cap on our lifestyles so that we are free to give away everything above that cap during the year (no matter how small or large) for the sake of the glory of Christ in His church, among the lost, and among the poor.

•Fourth, we want to give our time in another context. As we give 98% of our time next year to making disciples right here where we live in Birmingham, we want to spend 2% of our time (about a week) spreading the Gospel outside of Birmingham. We're trusting that when we give 2% of our time in another context, it will radically transform the 98% of our time that we spend in this context!

•Finally, we want to commit our lives to a multiplying community. Fundamentally, this involves a wholehearted commitment to the local church of which we are a part. But even deeper, we want to commit our lives to a small group of believers that is intentionally sharing, showing, and teaching the Word while serving the world together. Together, we want to lock arms to spread the Gospel and glory of Christ from Birmingham to the ends of the earth.

I hope you will be encouraged by my radical journey and I pray that it will challenge you to live a radical life for Christ, as well!

Next Post is going to be about what this means to me personally!