I need to confess something to you,” the young man said to the pastor of the 3-year-old church plant who had been showing him how to operate their sound system. He had been attending only a few weeks. “I just got out of jail,” he said, and lowered his head.
ClampThe pastor used to be a police officer before accepting the call to the church plant. The young man’s previous life didn’t frighten the pastor, and he encouraged him by saying, “That’s in the past. I’m excited that you now want to serve the Lord.”
The young man was shocked. Obviously the pastor didn’t recognize him. A church down the road not only wouldn’t allow him to volunteer, but also gave him the impression that they didn’t want him present at all.
“You don’t recognize me, do you?” the young man asked as he now looked up at the pastor.
“Should I know you?” asked the pastor.
“You were the one who arrested me years ago for stealing.”
The pastor had arrested hundreds of criminals. There was no way to remember all of the individuals or their offenses. His curiosity drove him to ask what the man had stolen.
The young man now looked intently at the pastor to see his reaction to the answer and said, “Church sound systems.”
If the pastor was more concerned with property than he was with people, the conversation would have ended with those words. Had he seen the man as a criminal, rather than a potential disciple, he would have shown him the door. Do your actions reveal to the lost that you value them? When you see people who don’t have their act together, do you treat them like Jesus would and believe in them?
Would you like to see revival in your church? Begin to value and believe in people. Value them by organizing your people into small-group communities to be discipled and cared for. Believe in them by getting them in the game early to serve, and empower them to take responsibility for the spiritual life of someone else.
The pastor was initially tasked with putting this young man behind bars, but now he saw an opportunity to set him free. A few weeks after their initial conversation, the pastor handed the young man an envelope. The young man opened the envelope and pulled out a set of keys to the front door and the alarm code.
With tears in his eyes, the young man said, “No one has ever believed in me and trusted me enough to do what you have done for me today.”
An attitude like that results in revival. It’s not a coincidence that this pastor’s church leads our state in baptisms in its size category.
– Clamp is evangelism group director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Follow Lee on twitter @leeclamp or on his blog at www.leeclamp.com.