I just caught up with my friend Dave Ferguson, who recently co-authored with his brother, Jon Ferguson, the new book Finding Your Way Back to God: Five Awakenings to Your New Life. Dave and Jon lead Community Christian Church, which now has more than 10 locations in the Chicago area. “Helping people find their way back to God” has been the mission of the church since it was started, and now in this book, Dave and Jon have outlined five “awakenings” people experience as they understand their longings and dare to believe that God wants to be found even more than they want to find Him.
Check out the video interview with Dave. Here are a few of the highlights:
- “Somewhere in college during my freshman year, I heard the question, ‘What are you going to trade your life for?’ I realized the most important thing I could do would be to help people find their way back to God.”
- “What happens for most people is in the first two ‘awakenings,’ they get stuck in what we call ‘the sorry’ cycle. They have these longings and then experience regret. And finally you get to the end of yourself, and you say, ‘What I really need is help.’ Help has a name — it’s Jesus.”
- “I love helping people find their way back to God. There’s a part of me that finds its way back to God every time I hear one of those stories. It reminds me of the absolute truth about who I am.”
- On what pastors can do to build a culture that helps people find their way back to God: “I’m a big believer in the power of leadership. I think the No. 1 culture creator is senior leadership.”
- “If you have a leadership gift, the best thing you can do is to live this out and find stories to communicate it.”
