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In the early 1990s, Wesley Nunley of Dallas completed a project he had dreamed of for decades. "I tell you, this could be a big thing," he explained. Wes then walked out to a concrete octagon in the middle of his backyard. With a beaming smile, arms raised up in excitement, the energetic retiree said, "This welcomes the UFO to land, which has never been done before."

Wes Nunley believes in this project, and has invested 10,000 dollars in concrete hoping it will happen. He's never actually seen a UFO, but he firmly believes they travel the sky, and therefore might need a place to land. To increase this likelihood, Nunley has stenciled huge, red two-feet-tall letters on the concrete. They read, "U-F-O LANDING BASE 1."

Of course Wes Nunley accepts that there will be scoffers about his friendly welcome of UFOs. One concerned friend, Sid Hammett, shakes his head with wonder and calls Nunley "a little off." You and I might agree. We accept the normal pursuits of retired folks like travel, woodworking, or gardening. But, UFO landing pad projects? That's outside of mainstream recreation for most people. We naturally ask the question of purpose. Why are you doing this, Wesley? Is this really important, or have you gotten sidetracked?

When Paul wrote his third letter from prison in Rome to the Colossians, he was expressing a similar concern. Like Sid Hammett, best friend of our UFO man, Wesley Nunley, Paul was worried that the people were "a little off." There were false teachers in their church, insisting that certain human regulations were required for salvation, in addition to belief in Christ. Paul told them bluntly, "Do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17).

As Eugene Peterson says, "You don't need a telescope, microscope, or horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ." Paul was bringing these believers back in line with their fundamental faith -- the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:28 he says, "We proclaim him...." It's a simple, laser-sharp target to this confused church. Paul was Christ-centered; the Colossians were to be also.

One wonders how the Apostle might conduct church officer training. Would he emphasize "Milestones in Reformed Theology," or "No-fail Policies and Procedures to Boost Membership"? Probably not as much as he would "proclaim him." Keeping people on track with Christ was a big deal to him. Is staying on track with Christ tough for us?

Here in verse 28, we find Paul "proclaiming him" with an approach of warning and instructing. The term for "warning" here should be interpreted as more counseling than correcting. The "teaching" was directed toward equipping others to do what he had been doing: sharing the simple, straightforward message that God loves you -- Christ died for you. This "warning and teaching" was done "in all wisdom," which literally meant profound common sense.

Like many seminary students, Chris was eager to step out into "real" ministry. He was particularly energized to challenge the world after taking a course titled "Apologetics." This class teaches someone how to defend the Christian faith rationally. With his buddy, Thomas, they devised a strategy. Armed with three years of Systematic Theology, Church History, Hermeneutics (herma ... what!) and now Apologetics, they defined their target. It was a big, unorthodox Unitarian church which was advertising weekly study groups.

Chris and Thomas chuckled as they walked toward the gray stone building on a dark, downtown city block. They were out to pick a fight ... a theological fight that is, and win people to Christ with a rationalistic baseball bat. After only ten minutes into the study, Chris looked over at Thomas and winked. The verbal attack then began. Before long the class leader was tied up in logical knots pointed out by Chris and Thomas. The entire group was confused and hurt. The seminary students excused themselves and left with smug smirks on their faces. Was their approach effective?

In retrospect, it perhaps did more harm than good. Chris observed his wife ministering through a much more primitive approach -- the apologetic of chocolate chip cookies. Chris saw people do something in response to his wife's ministry that they didn't do with his -- they lit up. They smiled and laughed seeing something authentic in a simple act of Christian kindness. Chris went to work on unlearning his apologetic of debate for his wife's apologetic of profound common sense. He was a classic victim of advanced religious training, with too much extravagant education, and too few practical people skills. Can we sometimes end up the same, with too many pursuits and no clear purpose for living?

In February, 1999, reporter Michael Walsh wrote an article called, "Less House, More Home." In that piece, he pointed out that even if we can afford a big house, it's potentially a matter of waste vs. warmth. Walsh pointed out that at construction costs of 100 dollars per square foot, the hallways alone in a 5000 square foot home could cost 125,000 dollars! He detailed how over the past 35 years the size of an average house has grown from 1400 square feet to around 2200 square feet, despite the average family going from 3.6 to 2.7 people.

His point was this: that big can be burdensome, dragging us down in debt and duty. He suggests homes that simplify and soothe, which are often smaller, under 1750 square feet.

Like Paul with the Colossian believers, Walsh was bringing us back on track with the purpose of a house -- to be a home, a sanctuary of peace and comfort, not price and prestige.

In his landmark book, The Purpose-Driven Church, Pastor Rick Warren claims that "Nothing precedes purpose." The starting point for every church should be the question: Why do we exist?

That's a question we can put to ourselves: Why do I exist? For what reason am I here on earth? For Paul's ministry with the Colossians, it was summarized in verse 28, to "present everyone mature in Christ."

This idea meant literally to be parallel, alongside one another as they advanced in faith. The process was worked out in its own time, when the believer was "mature," or spiritually full-grown. But how many of us "arrive" at full-grown Christ-likeness? In actuality our pilgrimage is more like the roller-coaster stock market index, up one day and down the next, with thousands of corrections along the way. So our challenge is keeping on track in our faith. Our constant goal is developing maturity in Christ, as Paul says in verse 28.

A biblical pattern for keeping faith on track means knowing our life purpose. By knowing why we exist, we can better decide how to live. Being purpose-driven in our faith enables us to know what we should and shouldn't be doing as disciples. It keeps us on track.

Consider our Lord's example as told by Luke: "At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, 'I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.' So he continued proclaiming the message ..." (Luke 4:42-44). Purpose-driven faith kept Jesus on track. It kept Paul and the early Church on track. It will do the same for us.

During his ABC television special, In the Name of God, Peter Jennings said that "Willow Creek has started something big, and hundreds of churches all over the world want to be part of it." In 1973 children who attended would call it "a safe place to invite friends to hear a dangerous message." By 1992, they would be the largest Protestant church in North America, proudly independent and non-denominational. In 1995, the ripple effect was international, as people from over 110 countries flocked to learn about designing seeker-sensitive worship. All because of nine specific words which comprise the mission of Willow Creek Community Church: "Turning irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ." Willow Creek Community Church has changed the face of world Christianity forever by existing as a purpose-driven church. Everything they do, every decision they make is tested against their mission of "turning irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ."

Willow Creek Community Church even caught the attention of Harvard Business School when the prestigious institution named it one of the most effective non-profit institutions in existence. Bill Hybels, the church's pastor, was invited to a group doing an analysis of his church. After Hybels finished talking, the professor asked a group participant to identify the church's reason for being. A woman answered, saying, "This church is trying to turn atheists into missionaries." She was 100 percent right. Apparently thousands of other churches have thought so also, and have adopted Willow Creek Community Church's mission of "turning irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ."

Willow Creek Community Church and many other visionary churches are seen as a corrective to the once-vibrant mainline denominations of the early 1950s. They are keeping on track with the primary command of Jesus to "go and make disciples." They are continuing the purpose-driven ministry of Paul, who lived to "present everyone mature in Christ."

In his classic book, The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker tells how purpose-driven living can affect countless lives in a lasting fashion. He tells the story of Nurse Bryan, a not-so-flashy caregiver who kept an entire hospital on track with her eleven-word purpose-driven philosophy. When facing a medical decision, Nurse Bryan always asked the question, "Are we doing the best we can to help this patient?" These eleven words gradually permeated the entire hospital and became its cultural creed known as "Nurse Bryan's Rule." That's because patients on Nurse Bryan's floor recovered faster.

Drucker claims that ten years after her retirement, "Nurse Bryans's Rule" was still influencing the culture of that hospital. Superiors and subordinates alike were profoundly affected by one common person's passion for purpose. It was the great motivator that continues to inspire us here today.

Negotiating the twenty-first century is going to be bumpy for most individuals and churches. That's because change is coming at us faster than we can digest it. Education is just one of the areas that is being forced to re-examine its traditional assumptions.

Take Shop Class for example. It's a right of passage many Boomers enjoyed in their junior and high school years. We learned how to spot-weld a tin pan together, turn wood on a lathe, and run a band saw safely. But those days are fading fast. That's because shop skills are not being demanded on a college level. Employers are not clamoring for skilled tradesmen as much as they are for trained computer technicians.

So what's happening in the classroom? The same thing that's happening in our traditional churches. In a nutshell, we must "pick our pain" from two options. Painful scenario one is a choice many churches are opting for. It goes like this: we will keep doing what we have been doing -- and work harder. That's choosing to continue shop class because we've always offered shop class. The result of that decision is that we will maintain what's familiar, reliable, stable, and comfortable. The pain involved is that we will decline and possibly die. That is because we can never create a better past. It's done and gone.

Pain number two is the decision to go beyond shop class, but remain true to the purpose of education: preparing people for living life. That involves the pain of growth, risk, renewal, and hard work with much criticism. It's saying that we will exist to educate people. If shop class fulfilled that role for a time, great, but if it's not relevant anymore, we will change. Not from education, but from how we've always done education. We will let purpose drive us, not precedence.

Could that be the great motivator for us as God's people? Could knowing why we are on the planet be the corrective to keeping us on track? We are going to experience decent folks off track everyday -- in our families, in our churches. We will continue to hear stories about retirees making concrete landing pads for aliens.

The great motivator for Paul was to see "everyone mature in Christ." The energy for that work came from Jesus himself. The same motivation and power are offered to us right here, right now. It is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (v. 27).