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In January, 2010, I felt the Lord challenging me and my church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to “give our lives and our church over to Jesus” in ways we had never done before.

At the time, I’d been reading about the great 19^th century evangelist, Dwight L. Moody. At age 30, after already being powerfully used by God to reach many for Jesus, Moody was challenged by the British evangelist Henry Varley to an even deeper commitment to God than that in which he was presently walking in. It was 1867 and Moody had already found great success in being a “traveling shoe salesman for Jesus”. As a matter of fact, Dwight had already won countless young street kids to the Lord, walking the sidewalks of Chicago, filling his missionary church to the brim. Yet as he sat on a park bench across the street from a cathedral in Dublin, Henry Varley, an evangelist in the great revivals led by Charles Spurgeon and George Muller, challenged Moody with this comment…

“Dwight, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully consecrated to Him.”

In later writings, historians say that Varley only vaguely remembered making this powerful comment to Moody. Yet as Dwight returned home to America, to his mission work on the streets of Chicago, the Lord wouldn’t let him forget this haunting challenge. On the ship returning to New York, Moody reasoned with himself that Varley hadn’t said “an anointed man, or a wealthy man, or a well-educated or seminary-trained man”. No, the challenge was just “a man who is fully consecrated to God”. Moody consciously committed himself during that return trip to Chicago and be, with God’s help, “that man”. He called it “O and O” for God. “Out and Out for Jesus!”

History proves that as Moody returned to his mission work in Chicago and kept Varley’s unique challenge before him, God used Dwight in amazing ways to reach a nation for Christ. Over the next 32 years, Dwight L. Moody, who also experienced a personalized indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit as he was reeling from disastrous ministry setbacks that stemmed from the great Chicago fire of 1871, went on to become one of the major contributors to the work of God in America during the second half of the 19th century.

So what about today? Do you suppose that Henry Varley’s challenge to Dwight Moody can still ring true today? In 2010, I decided to ask my church to respond to these questions…

What would it look like if a few of us decided, like Moody, to take on this powerful statement as a personal challenge? What would it look like if a whole church decided to step into a level of “consecration to God” that we hadn’t done before? What would happen if a group of people decided to go to Jesus and ask Him to take charge, leading and empowering us to discover, embrace, and walk out our unique God-given call and purpose in our lives?

I don’t know about you, my dear reader, but I’d like to be around a group of people asking questions like that! Wouldn’t you? I’d love to find a way to hear all that God is saying and doing within a group of people who are taking a challenge like this seriously.

So here’s the deal. A few people in our church began to respond to this challenge in 2010. Many are continuing that challenge with me to this very day. At first, I was disappointed that only a very few first responded in 2010. But you know what? God reminded me that it wasn’t my job to evaluate the response to the challenge, but to just be faithful in extending the invitation. So today, here I am again, inviting YOU to that same Henry Varley to Dwight Moody challenge.

My very first CPRR BLOG TALK session, Colossians: Restoring Jesus to the Center, is my personal blog through Paul’s letter to the Colossians. My goal was to take the scriptures, break them into smaller, bite-sized pieces, and then write down the variety of thoughts that brewed in me as I read. Each BLOG TALK is short in nature and ends with a brief prayer and just a couple of short questions to ponder. There are 52 BLOG TALKS in this Colossians session, so you can digest them daily over several months, as I did, or you can spread it out weekly over an entire year. You decide. The goal here is not so much to teach you but to stir you to your own personal experience of God, as you read and apply His Word into your everyday life. As a gift to you, you may DOWNLOAD this 52 session publication for free right here. DOWNLOAD: CLICK HERE

This CALL and PURPOSE MINISTRIES website, where we focus on four key aspects of the Christian life: CALL, PURPOSE, RENEWAL, and RESCUE, is a place you may want to use as well as a coaching and mentoring resource as you personally respond to Moody’s challenge. Go to the upper right corner of this page and click on the link that says CPRR BLOG TALKS. There you will find the directions to setup your own FREE personalized wordpress.com blog. Then it’s up to you. BE CREATIVE. Begin praying, listening, responding to the Holy Spirit, and all God is saying and doing. Then begin writing on your blog on WHAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCING as God leads you into this unique challenge.  We look forward to the journey with you.

MY PERSONAL CPRR BLOG TALK BLOG is at pastorboller.wordpress.com

JOIN US for our second CPRR BLOG TALK SESSION on the Book of Acts (now in progress). 
CLICK HERE to VISIT Marty's Blog

So, let’s go. Let’s start praying and seeking God together for WHAT IT MIGHT LOOK LIKE TO ANSWER THIS CALL and CHALLENGE.

“The world has yet to see what God will do with a man or woman who is fully consecrated to Him.”

Coaching, Mentoring, Consulting, and Resourcing Individuals, Leaders, Pastors and Churches in CPRR (Call, Purpose, Renewal, and Rescue)