The Mission Without Preaching
September 9, 2009
Tonight I went to the Mission, but did not preach. That is always a bit difficult for me, since I don’t feel as prepared to come down there as when I have been pouring over a Scripture text to preach to them when I do preach. But tonight was fairly eventful.
My faithful blog readers will remember Tim who was kicked out of Brother Bryan Mission. Well, he has returned. We did not exchange too much except a hello. I think he was a bit embarrassed, honestly.
I spoke with another man at dinner who has been waiting for years for a hip replacement. After months of calling the government and hospitals to try and have the surgery so that he can walk properly, he has finally been scheduled for the hip replacement October 5. I wanted to sit with him and let him know that I had been thanking God for the news over the past week since we had prayed for it on several occasions.
As I spoke with him, some facts about his life came out which previously had been unknown to me. He was apparently some sort of a child prodigy—he began reading at age 2, read Moby Dick at age 8 and went to college at age 16. It wasn’t just any college, it was Northwestern University. He also has a Masters from Amherst. But he had destroyed his life with drinking. “I never thought I would be living in a mission,” he told me. Many who are there, never do.
After the service, an eccentric young man came up to me and said, “I have a question.”
“Ok, go ahead,” I said.
“If someone falsely accuses you of something, what should you do?” He told me a little bit about the situation (you would laugh if I felt like I could post what he told me…but I won’t).
I told him, “You have to do what Jesus did—nothing.” I turned to 1 Peter 2 and read him these words, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
He wanted to defend himself against the accusations to me. I told him, “You don’t need to defend yourself to me, or to any other person. You can leave it up to Him who judges righteously.”
I spoke with still another man tonight who is always a bit of an encouragement to me. A few weeks ago after I was done preaching, he said, “You have a fire burning in you when you preach.” I talked with him a little bit tonight about his life and what has brought him to the mission. Of all the men, I think he has some of the most potential. He has a great job, is well-spoken, and he is really growing in Christ. He is at the mission after a broken relationship left him in debt—I think he must have been dating a con-artist of sorts, but he did not say as much. He is trying to get out of debt and get on a good footing before leaving the mission.
I asked him where he goes to church. He told me that he goes to an African American version of an Assemblies of God church. I said, “Oh, they speak in tongues there?” I am sure he got a touch uncomfortable, knowing that he gets a lot of negative responses to that teaching, but I am at least sympathetic to it. I told him that my grandpa was converted in a Pentecostal church, so I have some Pentecostal heritage. He said to me, “Maybe that is why you speak—in such earnestness and passion when you preach.” Well, I took that as a compliment. I have been told by one person, and one congregation that I don’t really preach. But I am getting there.