Something very powerful happened as Jesus was becoming a public person just before He began to show the world who he really was. There was a man whose name was John, scripture says. John was a special man whose whole life had been consumed with the task of preaching a powerful message; “God is about to move.” This task prevented John from living his own life. John didn’t have a wife or family. He didn’t have a career or a house. He couldn’t even afford to buy normal clothes. But the message was powerful: someone is coming who will change the world forever. John’s friends didn’t understand it wasn’t John that would change the world. He gave his whole life, only to be replaced. When people began to talk about Jesus, John’s closest friends were understandably hurt that John was being forgotten. When John’s friends asked him, suggesting it didn’t seem fair, John said something the world doesn’t say: “He must increase, I must decrease.”

It is the instinct of every person to be validated by the adoration of others. Pastors are no exception to this. Yet John had found something far deeper than instinct; He had found the truth. God had become flesh and planned to die for the sins of the world. If people want sin taken away, Jesus would be the one to do it. And so, the only way people will see Him is if I can make a hole without being noticed.

In 2008, a group of 25 people got on their knees in a school gymnasium and committed to a dream that Jesus would save people. But the only way this would happen is if we didn’t make it about ourselves. As a pastor, saved at the age of 7, I took up that solemn commission John melted into 2,000 years ago, I don’t need to be successful. You need to know who Jesus is. This simple thought has changed lives in a way paper cannot record. It is my only hope, at any cost, that you would realize: God is offering you a friendship you do not deserve. I am so very thankful for the impact this ministry could have on your life if you will open your heart to this thought: He must increase, I must decrease.