“Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city. Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done here.” —Chris Tomlin, God of this City—
“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us; but life is at work in you. … Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” —2 Corinthians 4:1–12; 5:17—
Day 5 started well. At this point the fatigue of late nights and early mornings really took its toll though. But not before I had the opportunity to listen to Rev. Dan Weber again in Bible Study. God is so good! We delved into John 4, discussing Jesus at the well where he meets a Samaritan woman. We discussed what was beginning to sound like the usual Sunday School lesson that accompanies this story. But then Rev. Weber took us to a deeper level.
It had never occurred to me in 22 years of life that it was an odd thing for the woman at the well to be going there in the middle of the day. I did pick up on the fact that Jews and Samaritans did not mix, but I had always thought she had gone to the well because she didn’t like crowds. But there was a good reason why she didn’t like crowds. She had been married FIVE previous times and living with a man who was not her husband! Clearly she did not want to revisit those experiences with the other villagers of Sychar. Then, much to her chagrin, she meets Jesus—a Jew— sitting right there at her well. On top of that, Jesus asks her for a drink of water! What?! This was unheard of! But Jesus crosses cultural boundaries and He listens. He cut through the noise of the woman’s past and present sins and shared the Gospel with her. He fixed this broken person, and created someone totally new! She then ran and told the rest of the villagers what had transpired and “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony…” (John 4:39) Wow! Pastor Dan then went on to describe the plight of many churches in Mission Area A of the Texas District (Rev. Weber not knowing this of course).
The churches here are declining. Many are viewed as “out of touch” with the culture and the youth as well as the job trends. People are moving from West Texas to East Texas because there are more jobs available. Young people are leaving the churches here for that reason, or falling prey to the world’s lies and relativistic culture. Others are mad at the church. At any rate the church in West Texas seems broken at times and that perception can be very discouraging. But Pastor Dan grew up in a similar church in Virginia, with six other youth in the program. He said to us, “This church was an old person church and it seemed boring. I did not want to invite my friends to it. But God took what was once a dying church, and now three of us are professional church workers across the country. One is in Chicago, one in DC, and I am in Idaho.” I thanked the Lord for that message then and there. Not only did it encourage me, but I know it probably encouraged some of the youth in our church in San Angelo. See, God is constantly breathing new life into the churches and raising up workers and and souls. He takes us broken sinners and speaks through us to his beloved creatures. It requires patience and waiting on the Lord, for he inclines his ear and hears our cries (See Psalm 40). Our God is faithful and with that faith and steady work, we can serve the Lord and see that God’s Word is exciting and dynamic! It is working even in a seemingly dead area. It is relevant in our daily lives and that Word can take us places we would not even imagine—even back to our home areas! So long as the pure Word is taught in our churches, they will always be alive even if it is a church of small size.
The day continued and we found out that we did indeed get extra orange shirts to wear for the gathering. We thought it was great because now we wouldn’t have to push the envelope of smelling like sweat all week. Team Oscar then met at 4:15 and headed up to the Superdome. Once there, we went inside for our pre-usher meeting and I had the opportunity to share how to keep your ear piece from getting stuck in your ear. Later at the Mass Event, I finally saw the Skit Guys. They did a hilarious presentation of Adam and Eve and the fall of man. It was so good! Afterwards, we stuck around for a quick debriefing, and Lyndsey, Matt Wilson and myself decided to head to Cafe du Monde and some world famous beingets. On the way, Matt stuck his head into a water fountain just because he could I think. It added to the already awesome evening and I am so glad that Matt was there. He gave us another treasure to add to an already treasure filled day. We then ran into more of TEAM Oscar in front of Harrah’s Casino and Matt Boness graciously accepted an invitation to take pictures of me in a handstand in front of Harrah’s. We finally arrived at our destination and sat down to a real treat for beingets are fried pieces of dough covered with powdered sugar and without a doubt the best part of New Orleans. As we received our order, a group from Team Delta arrived and pulled a couple of tables together. We socialized and took pictures. I also learned from Team Delta members attending Concordia Nebraska that one should cram as many people around a table as one can. Clearly, there is nothing awkward about this practice and you get to know each other real fast. But it was fun. Lyndsey’s home church was also at Cafe du Monde and Matt and I met them too. We then headed back to the Springhill Suites to get some sleep and get ready for another day at the LCMS gathering. What an awesome, God-filled day! Until next time, God’s peace be with you.
