Malcolm Gladwell wrote a wonderful little book years ago called Tipping Point, exposing some of the principles of how momentum is built and sustained in movements and trends. I remember speed-reading it in a Barnes and Noble two decades ago, and its powerful implications have stayed with me. Essentially, Gladwell argued that certain thresholds create momentum that takes on a life of its own. Once the tipping point is reached, it cascades into a culture, a business, or an organization in ways that transform what it touches. Today, we’re in the middle of a series that highlights a tipping point in our culture and the opportunity to see a tipping point in our community and church.

Tipping points are evident at several points in history. In the church’s history, the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost forever changed the landscape of the Gospel’s impact on the world. The Great Awakenings were tipping points for the Gospel that we call “revival.” Even now, we’re seeing some events on college campuses that are creating spiritual tipping points for reaching college students.

But what kind of tipping point(s) are we seeing in our community, our church? Some of us were here when Midlothian reached a tipping point in its position in the DFW metroplex. Suddenly, our farmland began to disappear, transformed into massive housing additions that changed the real estate landscape. The great migration from the West Coast to Texas has brought about a tipping point in population and cultural makeup. After weathering the COVID pandemic, our culture and community are once again thriving, and we are seeing another time when God is bringing people into contact with our church and the Gospel as we proclaim it. We’re feeling it, and we will decide how we respond to see if that tipping point has been surpassed or choose to shrink back from it and seek to scuttle it in order to avoid change.

The disciples faced that when the Samaritans came rushing to learn about Jesus. Paul faced that when the Gospel’s impact shifted from a focus on Israelites to the Gentile masses of the Mediterranean rim. The Gospel exploded onto the scene all those centuries ago.

In a few weeks, Ramadan will begin in Muslim cultures. Will you pray that the Gospel’s impact on Muslims worldwide will reach a spiritual tipping point? Will you pray that the persecuted church surpasses critical mass in those countries so that entire villages turn to Christ?

I invite you to join us these next two weeks as we consider the tipping points of our own setting and join a worldwide movement to pray for God’s Spirit to sweep through our midst and through the millions of people who have yet to hear of Jesus.