Part of the adventure of this journey of walking with Father in freedom, is seeing how the gifts and graces the Spirit has released into his body begin to function outside of the constraints of religious obligation. The other day I got a hold of a friend I hadn’t spoken to in long time. His name is Mike, and he’s actually featured in part four of the Church Outside the Walls video series. When I reached him, he was waiting in line at the DMV office.
Now I’ve got to set this up, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) have offices in different neighborhoods throughout the whole state. They are so consistently crowded that they use a numbering system like what you would find a local deli. You’re assigned a number and then wait until your number’s called. So instead of standing in lines, there are large waiting areas where people just mill about waiting for their number to come up. That’s where Mike was when I called him.
He was so excited to hear from me that he began to tell me all about the recent opportunities he’s had to lead people to Christ. Mike clearly has the gift of the evangelist, and ever since he’s left the institutional church his gift has just blossomed. He kept repeating to me that the harvest is ready now and to pray for more laborers. He shared how Father has given him some insight on how to start conversations with folks. He calls it the reality check. He asks people to do wrte down the three most important things in their life. He transitions the conversation of how the things or people they’ve written down are temporary, and can be lost in comparison to the eternal certainty of Christ. He’s not after getting people to say a ’sinner’s prayer’. “I just want to give people a reality check”. The thing is, this reality check hits them deep in the heart, and they respond to the power of the Gospel.
Later that evening I get a call from Mike. He just had to tell me what happened after we’d talked on the phone earlier that day. He told me how he’d seen a group of unsavory guys hanging out together waiting for their turn at the DMV office. He felt compelled to go talk to them, but then he began to assess how many punches or kicks he could take before he would get rescued if things went bad. Before he talked himself out of it, he made his way over to where the guys were. The conversation went something like this:
“Hey would you like to move up in the line?”
“@#^&! I would.” (Or something like that.)
“What number do you have?”
“401″
“My number’s 357, would you like to trade numbers?”
“@#^&! I would.” (Or something like that.)
“I’ll trade you numbers, if you’ll let me ask you three questions…”
The trade was on, and it wasn’t long before the leader of the group was in tears, in front of his homies, in the crowded waiting room. Later in the parking lot the same guy came over to Mike giving him a big hug, telling him he was heading home to talk to his family to get things straight. He invited Mike over, so he took the guy’s information and plans to go visit him.
It was so cool hearing how this brother moves and functions so freely in the gift Father has given him.
“So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be… ” Romans 12: 5-6 The Message
bob humphrey
Posted: February 21st, 2009 under General.
Comments: 3
