As part of training for this world missions trip, we were asked to share a brief story of when God called us to to do something radical. Here is my story…
Meredith Dinsdale opened my eyes to something. We’re supposed to write about a radical
adventure that we’ve had. Normally when
I think of radical adventures I think of something, well, pretty crazy. I think of people hanging off cliffs and
purposively trying to drown themselves in raging river rapids. I don’t usually think of going to a party
full of drunks and druggies – let alone going to a party of ‘said caliber’ and
sharing the love of Jesus. If I went to
a party like that to be Jesus – “Jesus”
would end up punching a lot of people in the face for their stupidity. 
Church on the Street, a ministry that I am a part of, meets
in a park in downtown Wichita. It’s a
pretty sweet homeless ministry with a significant number of guys that come each
week to stuff their faces of food and gorge themselves on Jesus. One Sunday this past summer we weren’t able
to meet in our park. Being city
property, the park was rented out to a festival – for gay and lesbian pride
day.
Truly, I was okay with it.
Honestly. It didn’t bother me
one bit that our church had to move a block away to hold service. It didn’t bother me that we cranked up the
sound system and boldly proclaimed the word of God. It didn’t bother me that homeless guys were wondering why there
were gay people in the park. It didn’t
even bother me that four of us planned on going over there later.
Call me ‘radical’.
Our purposes for going over to the gay pride festival were
completely innocent. We didn’t plan on
doing ministry and we didn’t plan on telling people they were going to burn in
hell for committing a sin – there are enough people in this world trying to
feel good about themselves. The reason
we wanted to go over there was to check out this guy’s sound equipment. He offered to let us use his services for an
event we were planning in August.
Walking across the street to go to the park, we were a
little nervous. I have gay friends but
I’ve never been to a massive gathering of them. We decided if anybody wanted to do anything to us, we would just
love on them like Jesus. We weren’t
there to condemn anybody. Christ loved
us into being something better than what we were. I thought we should do the same; however, we weren’t even to the
park yet and we encountered opposition.
“What you’re doing is wrong,” some guy said to me wearing a
burn-in-hell shirt.
I said, “umm… not it’s not” because I knew full well
checking out a guys sound system while surrounded by human beings was not
wrong.
“You should be scared,” he said back.
I don’t understand why
‘Christians’ feel the desire to condemn others (Jn. 3.17). So I raised my fist in the air and said,
“Well then – I’m going in!”
As we walked into the gate of the park we were asked to
purchase a button. I’m going to safely
assume that this lady was a lesbian. I
honestly didn’t care. We explained our
reasoning for being in the park. She
was really excited for us and let us in without pay proving to me that it’s
really not about what you know, but who you know…
Walking in we saw a lot of same-sex couples. Most were holding hands. I didn’t see anyone making out or having sex
– apparently people think that’s all gay people do. We even saw some of our friends.
People were really nice. I think
it was very clear to those around the four of us that we weren’t gay. It might have been because, well, they ‘just
know’ or it might have been that we were purposively walking through the park
girl-guy-girl-guy.
We eventually stumbled across Joel, the soundman, and he
showed us his gear. It was very fancy
and high-tech. He accepted the job
offer we had in place for him and then that was it. We said our goodbyes, wished him luck, and left. Walking out there was a man speaking, sort
of like a motivational speaker, and he was encouraging the gay community to
keep doing what they’re doing, to keep lobbying for bills in congress, and to
continue fighting for their rights. I
didn’t know what to think.
Outside the park we stood on the street corner waiting to
cross the street, the entire time being judged by the nice little ‘Christians’
sitting there shouting at us. I felt
like my home was being prepared in hell – nice cushy pillow and all. They tried handing us a track – you know,
the little pieces of paper that tell people about Jesus. They just handed it to us. We refused it and told them they should
probably read it.
I couldn’t help but think of how nice all of the gay people
were to us and how condemning the Christians were. I think if I had gone back, I would have wanted to sit and just
‘be’ with the
gay people. I honestly
felt like throwing rocks at the Christians on the street corner. I didn’t ‘feel the love’ from them, I only
felt hatred.
I guess I still marvel at grace. I’ve never been gay and truly don’t ever want to be. The thing is we’re all sinners saved by
grace – saved by Jesus. It’s not
because we deserve it, it’s because God loves us. Those people aren’t going to hell any more for being ‘gay’ than I
will for being a liar. But I think
there comes a point where we realize the intensity of this Love and it changes
us, including our lifestyles. This
adventure changed me, changed my perspective, and gave me a renewed ability to
love people for who they are, not what they do.
I just hope that I never do throw rocks in the name of love.
