Nearly forty-five years ago, Roi Lene and I were between our sophomore and junior year at UNI. Roi Lene was working as a server at Marc’s Big Boy, a restaurant long gone from the Cedar Valley. But it was there, at Marc’s Big Boy that a couple invited Roi Lene to come to a church service by handing her a card that contained all the information about this service.

We were three months from being married and she came to me with this card and showed me the information. I said, “Ya, what do you want me to do with this?” She said, “I think we should go to this church. The people who invited me are really nice people.”

Now I must admit that I was resistant. I had been raised in a traditional church that was pretty dead and my coming to UNI had given me the freedom from the obligation of attending church. However, she looked at me with those beautiful eyes and said, “Danny, I’m going. I’d love for you to go with me.”

Needless to say, I ended up going. To my surprise, though I started out very uncomfortable, for the first time in my life, I heard the gospel of Christ preached in power. When the invitation was given to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus, I didn’t walk down the aisle. I ran! That day, both Roi Lene and I opened our hearts to Jesus and we have not been the same since.

The power of the ask, a simple invitation, has the potential of changing a person’s life forever. We have a simple little card that contains the information about our Christmas Eve services as well as our service times for the next two Sundays. Could I encourage you to pick up a few cards and pray that you might exert the “power of the ask” and invite someone to attend one of our services.

I don’t necessarily want to put words in your mouth but what we have said to our neighbors is, “If you don’t have somewhere to go on Christmas Eve, we’d like to invite you to one of our services at the Heartland Vineyard.” With that, hand them the card.

These cards can also be used to mail like a postcard to people you know, whether friends or family members who do not have a church home. The power of the ask is one of the most effective ways to extend the Kingdom of God.

holiday schedule 2015