If Jesus spent an hour at our churches, He might spend the final few minutes addressing each to give His evaluation and instructions…But more than anything, if He came to our churches, I believe He would bring His Father into the equation…and that only happens through prayer.

One of my dear friends and colleague and a great pastor wrote this to me recently:

If Jesus (in his physical body) had one hour to visit any of our churches. One hour to do any type of ministry. I don’t think he’d preach a sermon, I don’t think he’d do the tasks of ministry, I don’t think he’d heal everyone, I don’t think he’d try to meet everyone’s needs. If he had just one hour, I think he’d simply pray. Walk around the church and pray. And yet, how easy it is for that to be the thing pastors so quickly neglect.
(Jonathan Burgin, Pastor, The Summit Church Conway)

Who knows what Christ would do, but I have a feeling Jonathan is right on point. Why? When He visited His Father’s house in Jerusalem, (recorded in all three synoptic gospels) he observed what was going on one day and returned the next day and cleaned it out with a vengeance. His rationale was this:

“Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!”
(Mark 11:17)

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