I arrived at the hospital ER on Easter Sunday morning after receiving a phone call from some very distraught young parents. "Our baby is very sick and is going to be life-flighted to a larger hospital can you come?" Yes, I replied I will be right there. As I prayed with Jack and Kay we watched their extremely sick child being loaded and then evacuated out to a Children's Hospital about 75 miles away. They fell apart, Jack told me with tears in his eyes, I have made some promises to God and if our baby is spared I will be at your church next Sunday.
Building relationships with people who don't know Jesus is part of what we are called to do as Christians. Even if they are hugely different from who we think our average prospective church member might be.
I first met Jack and his soon to be wife Kay in my office at the church. They had come to talk to me about performing their marriage ceremony. Jack was a very outgoing guy while Kay was soft-spoken and reserved. In our pre-marital counseling sessions together I learned about Jack's prior drug habit and how Kay helped Him to get clean. They had come from broken homes and not one person in their families regularly attended church. During our discussion I commented on their tattoos, they both had pentagrams tattooed on their shoulders. It was then that I discovered that Jack and Kay were practicing Wiccans. They told me that a few of their vacations were spent in Salem, Massachusetts attending Wiccan workshops and classes in the art of casting spells. They had been involved with an organization called The Witches Education Bureau. Jack and Kay were hoping to teach others how to become more effective in their craft. I cringed inside as they spoke about converting people to their belief system. It almost sounded like a class on friendship evangelism. Neither Jack or Kay had any church background and they had no intention of leaving their faith. They were happy being Wiccans. I agreed to marry the two because I felt it would be better to see them married than to let them live together. I also thought it would give me a chance to continue to be in their lives. I told them it would be a Christian wedding ceremony because that was all I would do. I also told them that I would be praying for them and their marriage. They agreed and were happy with the planning process and the wedding service.
It had been a few years since I heard from Jack and Kay but I recognized Jack's voice immediately when he called. "Pastor, can you come?" After helping them with directions and giving them some money for their trip to the Children's Hospital I went on to the church for our Easter Sunday celebration.
That evening I received a call from Jack and he told me that the child was doing better and it would take some time to reach a full recovery. I told him that we at the church had prayed for their child that morning and we would continue to pray for a full recovery. Jack thanked me for all that I had done and he repeated what he had told me at the hospital that morning, "I will be coming to your church next Sunday morning."
Jack began to attend on a regular basis and it wasn't long before he brought his children with him. He was quite knowledgeable about the equipment in the sound booth and began to serve there. Jack accepted the Lord Jesus into his life and soon after that Kay made the statement, "If my kids are going to go to heaven someday I want to be there with them." So Kay began to attend. We had been praying for Jack and Kay's extended family and then I was asked to perform Kay's bother's wedding.
All of a sudden we were raising baby Christians in our church. Jack called me one Sunday after a particular service that included communion. He said, "Pastor, That was awesome how we all did shots together, I sure do love Jesus." Yes, we have a long way to go and a lot to learn but Jack and Kay will grow by the grace of God and the love of a church and Pastor. God loves it when people make promises to Him.
Pastor's, don't give up on the outcasts or the untouchables after all that is who Jesus came for!
