I had this guy from Nigeria in several of my senior Bible classes over the past couple of years. He was a very interesting guy, and he liked to talk about his heritage with us whenever we asked him about his culture.

One thing that is prized in Nigeria is knowing where you come from; he could name his lineage backwards 11 generations! The crazy thing is that he said that his dad was disappointed that he could not name back any more generations. That is simply astounding to me; the fact that he can give specific names and stories about members of his family who were alive before this country was established. Imagine if we could do that. One thing that I would love to know is at what point did someone in my family hear about the gospel of Christ? I have tried to retrace the steps of some of my family members to the time they first heard, but I would love to know when the exact moment was that someone in my family first took on the name of Jesus Christ through baptism. The interesting thing is everyone probably has a story in which someone close to them had not always known Christ, and through the introduction by a friend or family member became a member of the body of Christ and great things were done through them. From one person hearing the gospel, some pretty great things can be done. The smallest thing can balloon into a really, really big thing.

We never know what kind of potential someone has for the Lord’s Church until we actually give that potential a chance. Imagine the possibilities if each one of us invited one person to church this week, and followed up on them. What could we do? Could we grow? Certainly, but just think, they could be the first entrance of a family into the Lord’s Church and a couple generations later the entire family could follow Christ. Imagine the possibilities … Let’s all make an effort to invite someone to church this week.