16 As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 18 Right away, they left their nets and followed him. 19 After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets. 20 At that very moment he called them. They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers. (Mark 1:16-20 CEB)

If there is one thing I have learning in my 10 years of working with the church is that invitation matters. I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark again. The Bible in 90 days made me fall back in love with this Gospel all over again and I have gone back since B90 ended and started reading it a little at a time. Tonight I came to this story. It is a great story of Jesus calling the disciples on a journey. Jesus invited them to learn how to fish for people. Jesus made an invitation and Simon, Andrew, James and John all accepted and went on a journey that changed their lives.

I remember a few invitations that made an impact on my life. Being invited by a campus minister to go on a mission trip to New York thrusted me in to the missional passion that i have today. Being invited to help with a new worship experience led me to learning about how to do alternative styles of worship. Being invited to preach at a lot of local congregations helped developed me in to the preacher i have become today.

Invitations matter.

When was the last time you invited someone to share in the ministry that you participate in?