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Words are Weighty

A few years ago, when I was serving as the Lead Pastor of a local church, I experienced a strange compulsion. This compulsion surfaced just after the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Along with many admirers of King, I have a deep appreciation for the power and profundity of his Dream Speech. Influenced by his words, I wrote out a dream for the local church I was leading at the time and called it Our Dream Church.

King, great preacher that he was, knew that words have the power to convey a compelling vision that dives deep into the human soul and grows there. Carefully crafted, prayerfully wrought words have the potential to change hearts, develop communities, and transform the world. This is why we preach the Gospel.

I shared the Our Dream Church speech below in a sermon to the local church I served several years ago. God, I believe, used these plain old ordinary words to tear down and rebuild our values to align more with the kingdom of God than the kingdom of the world. In time, this dream actually became a reality in the life of our church.

While you may not resonate with Our Dream Church, I implore you to invite God to give you His dream for the church you lead and the life you live. I pray that as you tackle the challenges of life and ministry, God’s dream would crystallize in your heart. I pray also that you would have the audacity to put His dream to words and share it with your congregation, family, and friends, no matter how ridiculously far from reality those words may seem. Then, I pray that you passionately and strategically pursue this God-sized dream in collaboration with the people on your team.

Words have power. Words shape lives. Words change communities. Words transform the world. This is why so many of us dare to share God’s dream through the words of a Sunday sermon. Here are some of the words God used to shape me and the church I once led:

Our Dream Church

…We have a dream of a church that sees a human being not based upon the level of that person’s income or education but based upon their value in the eyes of God,

…A church that is unashamedly committed to Christ and because of that commitment is radically dedicated to loving all kinds of people with all kinds of issues in all kinds of ways,

…A church that is not consumed by petty deliberations about the color of the sanctuary carpet because she is too consumed by the mission of love Christ has called us to live,

…A church that sees overwhelming needs in our community and world and instead of turning away in fear and defeat runs right toward the needs by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick, the addicted, and the depressed,

…A church that helps seekers become servants of Christ, a church that is led not by perfect people but by people perfectly submitted to the Holy Spirit and guided by the Holy Book,

…We have a dream of a church that is not content to simply share a pew together but who are open to share life together, a church full of people who refuse to hold grudges because they’re too quick to forgive, who refuse to gossip because they’re too busy extending grace, who refuse to judge because they’re too busy loving,

…A church where people can worship by clapping their hands, stomping their feet, and raising their hands or being still, bowing their heads, and closing their mouths, a church that sees true religious devotion not as mere ritual but as love for the orphan and the widow, the successful and the struggling, the friend and the enemy,

…A church who measures the level of their success not by how many people show up on Sunday but by how many people are living out Christ’s mission on Monday,

…We have a dream of a church that refuses to put limits on what God can do because she has the fearless, reckless audacity to believe that God has the power to do absolutely anything!


Dr. Lenny Luchetti presently serves as Assistant Professor of Proclamation and Christian Ministries at Wesley Seminary of Indiana Wesleyan University. He began his 15 years of pastoral ministry when he was 23 years old. During that time he has served as the Pastor of a small rural church, the Assistant Pastor of a large church, and as the Lead Pastor of a congregation that grew from a small to a large missional and multi-ethnic church during his tenure. Lenny has taught preaching courses for ministers since 2003. He has preached at churches, camps, and colleges in the United States and around the world. His passion these days is to invest in those who are investing in local churches.

Dr. Luchetti blogs at lennyluchetti.blogspot.com