I was tempted to entitle this weeks "thought" -- "Getting Back to Reaching People the Jesus Way." I love it because it's a true story and I enjoy true stories far more than fiction. I like to hear of people who have actually done things, not read fictional scenarios of people doing things! True stories are more motivationally challenging than fiction!
The following excerpt comes from the book, "God For The Rest of Us" by Vince Antonucci. It chronicles his call to plant a church in Las Vegas (or "Sin City" as it is commonly called). It shows his love for "sinners" which others might by-pass, overlook, and even avoid. That's why I personally found his story(s) inspiring. And my prayer in sending this out is that his story might inspire you to do what both he and his friend Tommy did. I pray it challenges you to think outside the box in terms of who you seek to reach, and how you seek to reach them with the message of Jesus. Enjoy.
"I met Tommy at church. Tommy had recently gotten out of the Air Force. He was in a unit called Air Force Special Operations. Tommy would drop behind enemy lines to prepare bomb sites in wars, and knew how to kill people with his pinky or a rubber spatula. But those were his Chuck Norris days. Tommy was now in seminary. Like me, he had decided to become a pastor so he could make the biggest difference possible for God. When Tommy started attending our church, he began by volunteering and joining my small group. About two years later, during my 12th year at that church, my wife and I felt God leading us to move to Las Vegas to start another church. After announcing it to everyone on a Sunday morning, we got together with our small group. As we shared our feelings with the group, Tommy had a big smile on his face. I wanted to tell him he was a jerk for being so happy we were leaving the church, but I was afraid to. Finally, I stopped and asked, "What are you smiling about?" Tommy laughed and shocked everyone when he said, "We're coming with you." They did. Tommy, his wife and two children, moved to Las Vegas to help us start the church. After years of seminary Tommy would finally be a pastor.
Tommy
has a Harley. And when he arrived in Vegas, he realized that there was probably
a bunch of rough-and-tumble Harley riders who wouldn't step foot in a church,
so he joined a biker club. Well, he said it was a club. It seemed more like a
gang to me. It was a bunch of scary-looking guys who wore leather jackets
and rode Harleys. If they didn't want you in their "club"
anymore, they would take your leather jacket and cut it in half. I'd
never heard of a club like that! So Tommy joined these guys, built
relationships with them, and began sharing his faith with them. Eventually he
invited the leader of the gang (I mean "club") to our new church. The
leader showed up -- big, tall, ornery and with a Wiccan girlfriend. And
eventually he said yes to Jesus, and Tommy baptized him.
Tommy
also has tattoos. He realized that there were more than 300 tattoo shops in Las
Vegas, and more than 1000 tattoo artists, and that close to none of them would
set foot in a church. Tommy really developed a heart for these tattoo artists
who felt rejected by the church. How do you help tattoo artists to know God is
for them? How do you lead them to experience God's love and move into a
relationship with him? How do you get past the hard, painted exterior so
you can tattoo on their hearts the gospel of God's love for those who think they're
unfit? I'm not completely sure. But I know the strategy Jesus used.
Jesus
is God.
Jesus
was in heaven.
Jesus
wanted humans (sinful ones) to know God is for them, to experience God's love,
to move into a relationship with him.
So
Jesus moved to earth and became a human.
My
friend Tommy wanted to connect tattoo artists with God, so he decided to become
a tattoo artist! Unbelievable! He had done all that training to become a
pastor, and now he would have to do a year-long apprenticeship -- at no pay --
to train to become a tattooer. He had come to the conclusion that other
people could be pastors, but no one else was going to reach those tattoo
artists. Tommy started apprenticing at a local shop where he built a
relationship with a coworker named Randy. Pretty soon Randy started
coming to our church, and not much later he gave his life to Christ. Tommy
baptized him. Even more people from the tattoo shop started showing up at
church.
But,
then, there was Johnny. Johnny was a young tattoo artist, Kate Moss
skinny and covered from head to toe in ink. Of all the people at the shop
he probably had the least interest in Tommy, or in Tommy's
"spirituality." Tommy was trying to figure out how he could
grow their friendship. One day he asked, "Johnny, what are you
into?" Johnny had to think for a bit. Finally he said, "I don't
know, tattoos...and Harry Potter." Tommy told Johnny that he had
never read or seen any Harry Potter stuff, which blew Johnny's mind. Tommy
asked how many Harry Potter movies there were. Johnny proudly told him,
"Eight, and I own them all"
Tommy
sighed. He didn't care to watch any of them, but he did care about
Johnny. So he asked, "Do you want to watch them again? I'd watch
them with you." Johnny was stoked! Soon they began their marathon.
Whenever there were no clients at the shop, Johnny and Tommy would sneak into
the back room and continue the seemingly endless hours of watching Harry Potter.
This led, finally, to the day Johnny pushed the pause button and asked Tommy,
"Where is Mother Teresa in the Bible?" That conversation led,
finally, to the day Johnny showed up at one of our services. That led, finally,
to the day Johnny decided to say yes to Jesus and have Tommy baptize him."
I
find Tommy's example inspiring! Full of faith and unbelievable
love! A true saint!
In
fact, his example, like the example of Jesus that he followed, makes me ask
myself (and ask you): What "Johnny's" do we know?
Who can you and I think of that the average church might write off, pass by, or
worse yet, avoid? How far would your love for "sinners," and
your desire to reach the type of people Tommy and Jesus reached, cause you to
go in sacrificial love, to reach them? Would we be willing to move
our families to a whole new city, state or country? Change jobs (even
when we have a wife and kids) and do a one year apprenticeship at no pay?
Join a biker gang? Willingly endure 20+ hours of Harry Potter movies? Is
the salvation of lost souls that important to us?
Would
we, like Jesus -- who left the unspeakable glories of heaven to endure
the agony of the cross -- be willing to make such sacrifices to
reach those who might not otherwise be reached? These are questions we
really do need to ask ourselves, lest over time we become far too comfortable
in our Churchianity...
Living
in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff
