Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary

Once upon a time…Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary visited a Dynamic Large Church…searching for a place to belong. The preaching they found was so clear and rich with bible truth and the choir/praise and orchestral music comparable to the greatest churches in the world. How could church be any better?

This is the kind of church they had dreamed of belonging… a place to serve God and a home for their family. Harry and Mary loved the Dynamic Large Church, quickly enrolling their children into Bible Fellowship and began to search for an adult bible fellowship class in which to belong.

At first they visited a bible fellowship class and were impressed with the fantastic teaching of God’s word. Hours of study had obviously been invested by the teacher and it showed in the lessons taught. Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary visited for 3 months but no one really engaged them other than saying “Good morning”. The people in the class were pleasant and surely loved God, but they didn’t appear to need any NEW friends. No one invited Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary to go to lunch or called or visited.

As a second attempt, Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary visited another bible fellowship class with another truly awesome teacher. God’s word was taught with clarity and passion each Sunday. Alas, while surely the people in the class loved Jesus and each other….the people in this class appeared to not really need any NEW friends either.
After 6 months Mary and Harry began to doubt if God really wanted them to stay at the Dynamic Large Church….because after all…it is a “BIG CHURCH”.

One day a Godly couple from the second class called and invited Harry and Mary to dinner at their house. Harry wasn’t even sure of who the Godly couple was, but since they called…he thought they should go. The Godly couple, who were not in a leadership position, had by God’s guidance simply reached out in love to Harry and Mary… “Wow, maybe God does have a plan for us at this Dynamic Large Church?”

As a third attempt, Burned-Out Harry and Unsaved Mary were met at the class room door by a greeter who welcomed them to class and gave them name tags as they sat down. Before class started, more people surrounded Harry and Mary made them truly feel welcome. As class started they were warmly introduced to the entire class by the Outreach Leader. The teaching was equally awesome…God’s truth given with the love of a shepherd to a flock. After class the teacher and his wife came over to personally meet Harry and Mary. It really appeared genuine…could it be these people needed at least a few more NEW friends?

In bible fellowship class people testified of triumphs God had won in their lives…and reported how they had shared their faith at work, with friends and even some as they visited in prison. A person brought slides one Sunday of the recent mission trip she had been a part. A few weeks later Harry and Mary were assigned to a care group and they were contacted weekly and prayed for by their leader. Harry was invited to weekly men’s coffee group and Mary was invited to meet monthly at the women’s bible study. The care group went out to eat dinner together and relationships were made….Harry and Mary now belonged to bible fellowship class.

Burned-Out Harry began to feel a part…to truly belong and was invited to use the teaching gift as a substitute teacher in this new bible fellowship class. Burned-Out Harry, who had gained his name by being overworked (8 jobs at the previous church they had been a part) was now excited to minister and to be a part of this Dynamic Large Church.

Unsaved Mary…here is the thing….Burned-Out Harry didn’t know Mary was lost. Mary had walked an aisle when she was 10 and had played the part of a Christian for 26 years. Mary always doubted, but just thought she wasn’t trying “hard enough”….if she could only DO something more for God…she would feel His love and be pleasing and “feel something”. Unsaved Mary changed her name one Sunday when she gave her life wholly to Christ as her Lord and Savior!!! Mary was soundly saved and changed. Mary had heard the clear gospel preached from her pastor, heard weekly challenging lessons from her BF leader and seen Christ lived out in the people in her bible fellowship class. Harry knows that nothing would have changed in Mary’s life if they would have not found a place to belong…without a place in bible fellowship, Harry and Mary would have left the Dynamic Large Church and Mary would still be lost.


Everyone who walks through the doors of the bible fellowship class has some things in common.
1) Each person wants to belong to a Dynamic, On Fire for God, Bible preaching – world reaching SMALL church…Bible fellowship is the place for them to belong to that “small church”- in the midst of the large church.
2) Each person is fighting a battle….each person is struggling with something in their lives. Bible fellowship gives them a chance to share and gain strength to deal with their battles.
3) Love…each person needs love. We care about people because Jesus cares about people. Bible fellowship allows us to love and be the hands and feet of Jesus.


By the way….it’s a true story…I am Harry and my wife is Mary!! To God be the Glory for the great things HE has done.