09/07/2026
Day 2: Engaging Lostness
“Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”
-Luke 14:23
Here is a sobering reality: right now, more lost people live in Tennessee than at any point in our state’s history. Our population is growing. Our churches, in many cases, are not keeping pace. In dozens of counties across this state, there is one church for every 10,000 people — or more.
But Jesus said compel them to come in. Not wait for them to show up. Not hope they find their way. Compel them. That word carries urgency — the urgency of a host who knows the feast is ready and the chairs are empty, who cannot bear the thought of anyone missing what has been prepared.
Tennessee is full of people who have never been compelled. They’ve driven past our church buildings for years. They’ve never been invited. They’ve never been sought.
The Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions funds evangelism strategies, church planting assessments, and missional training to help Tennessee Baptist churches stop waiting and start going.
Pray for the Lost:
-Pray by name for someone in your life who doesn’t know Christ. Ask God to give you the words — and the courage — to compel them toward Jesus this week.
-Pray for Tennessee Baptist churches to feel the holy discomfort of a community full of lost people.
-Ask God to raise up bold witnesses in every county of this state, and pray that your church would be known as a place where the lost are genuinely welcomed and pursued.
