(community class name here) and the name of Jesus

Someone came into the office today to sign up for a community class.

Unable to pay more than half of it, though, they started to walk away.

I explained that the mission for the whole Wednesday class program was to connect with the community and empower folks to live life abundantly in Christ.

"The faith part," I said, "the Jesus part--is unashamedly us. We're not pushing or requiring that from anyone. so if this class will help fill you with abundance, we will scholarship the rest. Please don't let limited finances hold you back from participating." 

As I expected, the person decided to sign up and pay what they could.

I did not expect them to turn around and ask the volunteer at the front desk about Jesus.
but they did.

Apparently, I was the third person this week to 'bring up Jesus.' 

They had always believed in the existence of God and knew that a man named Jesus lived in Israel, but never had a relationship or a connection with him and wanted to know if we could talk about that... 

I was like, "Are you kidding me?!?! Be still my heart!!"

If I'm being honest, the faith comment was not intentional or strategic on my part. It flowed out of a habitual repetition of the church's mission statement: "to empower others to live life abundantly in Christ."
But talk about a moment where God burst open my expectations:

"You will see greater things than these."

I believe this person will be in worship on Sunday, so let's be very intentional about offering welcome to everyone who walks through our doors. You never know who is waiting to hear the name 'Jesus' for the third time (and you never know if you're the one to have those first two conversations so that the third can be fruitful).