Story of Jesus Series Poll - A Surprise

I'm preaching on The Gospel of Luke after Easter!

Why the change? And will it be long or short? The change to Luke has to do with my answer to the second question.

One or two of you suggested a series of short series through Mark. That way we can go deep and wide (and take even longer than 15 or 20 weeks to cover the book), maintain momentum and make it easier to invite guests. And that's what I'm going to do. The key is to make each series stand out on it's own and create anticipation while tying each series to the bigger picture of the life of Jesus. I'm going to lean on our Programming Team for this more than I ever have before so that we do this really well. 

We'll also insert some non-Luke series in between the Luke mini-series as we go along.

Needless to say, this will go on for a year or so. Part of the reason I chose Mark for the series on The Story of Jesus is because it is the shortest and most straightforward of the gospels and would be more manageable in eight weeks. But if I'm going to spend a year or so in one book, I really want to spend it in Luke, which is my personal favorite and covers some topics in much greater depth than Matthew or Mark (including prayer, ministries of mercy and the Holy Spirit's role in the ministry Jesus). We did a series on John not that long ago, so that gospel was not an option.

Again, thank you for helping me on this journey. I didn't anticipate coming to this conclusion at all. Thank you for your love for the Word and the ministry of reaching more people for Christ.

Story of Jesus Series Poll - My Observations

Thank you to all who weighed in on whether my series on The Gospel of Mark after Easter should be an 8-week or 15- to 20-week series. Great feedback.

Did you notice that the people who wanted the longer series gave longer answers for the most part?

There were three major concerns in the answers and I love and resonate with all three:

• Go deep and wide: A lot of people were concerned that if we covered Mark in eight weeks it would not go deep enough or, if the messages went deep enough, we would have to miss a lot of the story. 
• The mighty mo: A lot of people felt that shorter would be better because it would maintain momentum and not lose steam, especially with summer coming and the attendance patterns of summer (as well as a few confessions of short attention spans).
• The guest factor: A lot of people were concerned about guests. If someone visits our church late in a long series, they feel like they've missed too much. And it's so much easier to invite someone to an 8-week series.

There are no wrong answers on this. All of this is good. So what will I do? Tune in tomorrow for a surprise.