Thump, Thump

I love blowing up someone's preconceived notions about me.  Not in a malicious way, I just like it when someone says "I thought you were totally different than you really are".

A group of men from our church called the Band of Brothers recently got together for dinner out and a Clint Eastwood flick.  Joining us was a guy who had never done anything with our group in the past.  At the end of the evening, he and I and another member of the group were sitting and kind of recapping the evening.  Our new member made a statement about our group.  He said "this group is totally different than I thought it would be.  I always assumed you were a bunch of guys walking around thumping their Bibles and talking about church". 

Now don't get me wrong.  As I explained to my friend, there is definitely a need for groups like that, too.  Our church has several really good, really intense scripture and accountability-type groups for men.  Our group, however, serves a different purpose.  I told him that if someone from the B.o.B. group saw him doing something he shouldn't be doing, we wouldn't call a meeting and discuss it.  There wouldn't be "share time" on how we feel he should act and how that is supported by scripture.  No, we would walk up to him and probably slap him in the back of the head (sometimes literally) and tell him to stop.  Period.  

My point is not that there is one method of teaching and learning discipleship that is better or more effective than another.  We see throughout the New Testament that Jesus used different forms of teaching depending on who was listening and who the intended audience really was.  I think sometimes we find a certain way to relate to others how we feel about our faith, about Jesus as our Savior and about God and His church that strikes a chord with a particular audience.  We then assume that the same thing will affect everyone we speak to in the same way.  I think that what happens over time is that we start performing our story instead of telling it or acting it out.  Granted, God can work through us regardless of how we feel we appear to others.  But I feel that we need to be conscious of who it is that is listening so that we are open to what tools God would have us use in certain environments.

Sometimes I like to speak quietly in a circle of close friends and relate what I'm feeling calmly to a group of accountability partners.  But more often than not, I feel the Holy Spirit moving me to turn over tables....to get a little sweaty....to really "throw down" with the world.  God did, after all, regularly choose men to do battle, get messy, and swim upstream.

Be open to God's ever-changing missions for us and dare to try something new in the name of the Kingdom.

Peace,

Mike