DownshoreDrift

If Sarah Palin Were a Liberal Democrat . . .

What would be the reaction of conservative, Evangelical Republicans? Or, Republicans in general? That is the question that is lingering in my mind this morning and I believe that the answer has a great deal to do with the public witness of of the evangelical church in America.

Over the past 20 years or so, I have witnessed evangelical leaders, preachers, and conservative Republicans use instances of working, career pursuing mothers and unwed teen pregnancy as examples of family and moral breakdown in our country. Liberal Democrats were regularly attacked for their views on these issues (see Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown in 1992). I found myself in agreement with the principles espoused by the Right, but uncomfortable with the way that these issues were used in regard to party politics. I am ardently Pro-Life and believe that sex should wait until marriage. I believe that a parent's first priority is to their children over their career and I believe that it is best if the mother can stay home with the kids, although I fully understand that that is not always possible financially. I also would not put that on anyone in a legalistic way because people are free to make their own decisions on this issue. That is my opinion and I would not judge anyone for choosing a different course, as long as their children were taken care of.

When Sarah Palin was first announced, I thought it was a good choice.  I greatly respect the work of governors and I did not see the experience issue as being a concern. I also did not think that the fact that she was a woman or a mother of 5, even an infant with Down's Syndrome, would disqualify her. But, I did wonder how she would manage all of these challenges and how conservative evangelicals would view this, because I have always heard a different message from them regarding motherhood and raising children. Then, when it was revealed that Palin's 17 year old daughter was 5 months pregnant, I expected there to be some type of statement about the dangers of teen sex and/or the need for parents to be attentive to their children and "focus on the family." That is what we've heard for the past 20-30 years from evangelicals, right?  I have been surprised.

From a CNN article entitled Evangelicals Rally Behind Palin After Pregnancy News, this is the response of some of Conservative and Evangelical leaders:

America Becoming More Diverse, Older

In case you haven't noticed, America is rapidly changing. According to a new report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, America is going through a demographic shift so rapid and severe, that it will look very different in the next 40 years. Here are the highlights:

• The U.S. population is currently at 305 million. By 2050, it is projected to grow 43% to 439 million
• Minorities, which are now 1/3 of the population, will be a majority by 2042 and will reach 54% by 2050
• Hispanics, which are now 15% of the population, will reach 30% by 2050
• By 2030, 20% of Americans will be over 65. By 2050, it will be 25% - most of these are white
• Minorities will comprise more than half of all children by 2023 and 62% by 2050
• The black population is projected to increase from 41.1 million, or 14 percent of the population, to 65.7 million, or 15 percent.
• The Asian population is projected to climb from 15.5 million to 40.6 million. Its share of the nation’s population is expected to nearly double, from 5.1 percent to 9.2 percent.
• American Indians and Alaska Natives are projected to rise from 1.6 percent to 2 percent.
• The number of people who identify themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, from 5.2 million to 16.2 million.

I think that I had better learn to speak Spanish.

So, what does this mean for the Church? God is really laying on my heart the fact that we MUST understand that the Gospel is for ALL people and the Church must reflect the gospel message in its make-up (if you have read my blog lately, you understand). If we do not learn to diversify our churches, do we even have a witness in a country as ethnically diverse as America? This is not just trying to be culturally relevant. The Bible commands us to be this way. In Christ, there is neither Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, Slave, Free, Male, or Female. Christ is all and is in all (Gal. 3:26-29; Col. 3:11). In Christ, the dividing wall between races has come down (Eph. 2:11-18). There are many other passages and arguments for this.

If America's original sin is slavery and racism, we still bear the residue upon our collective soul. The sad thing is, it appears that our secular culture is trying to work this out faster than the Church is. But, we have the power of God! We have the Gospel! We have the Holy Spirit!  Think of what Heaven will look like, with all tribes, ethnicities, and languages coming before the Lord! (Rev. 7:9-10). If the evangelical church does not lead the way into this coming reality, then we have truly missed an incredible opportunity to address the sins of our past and help forge the future.

Just think: Who in America knows how to live in a multicultural world like this? Who better to figure it out and point the way than Christians that have been infected and transformed by the love of Christ? If we do not lead on this issue, any claim to care about America or to desire to see her come to God must be disregarded.

This issue of diversity and the accompanying problems of education, poverty, healthcare, and culture development is THE major issue facing our nation and the Church in the coming 40 years. How will we face it? What will it mean to be missional in this context? How can we live out and proclaim the gospel for such a time as this?

Some people say that diverse cultures cannot come together. It is impossible because we are too different. So, they promote multiculturalism, which is the idea that disparate cultures will exist alongside one another in America holding onto their traditional customs. I think that this will happen, to an extent. But, I also believe that Christians are one in Christ and we must learn to submit our culture to Christ so that He can express Himself through us in many different ways. America needs that kind of witness. Instead of seeing the Church as a refuge for each individual culture to be alone and with people just like themselves, my prayer is that the Church would be the one place in this nation where people come together over something bigger than themselves, Someone greater than their cultures, races, and economic backgrounds.

We are one in Christ.

The Power of a Yielded Life: Catherine Rohr and the Prison Entrepeneurship Program

Why would a 27 year old woman who was a Wall Street investor making six figures leave it all to work with prisoners in the Texas penal system?  Simply because she is a follower of Jesus and she saw prisoners through His eyes. She surrendered her life and talents to God and He is doing amazing things through her. Last week at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, I heard Catherine Rohr's story. It is extraordinary. God is using her to radically change lives by seeing the potential that people have and by working with them to help them become what God created them to be. Through the Prison Entrepeneurship Program (PEP), inmates are exchanging the business skills that they have learned through illegitimate crime for training in developing legitimate businesses. And, business leaders from all over America are helping!  Here is an example of how one Christian with a vision from the Lord can work to change the world (click on the pictures to watch the video).

(After clicking on the picture to view the video, enlarge this video by clicking the little box in the bottom right corner when it begins playing)
Woman leaves Wall Street to teach convicts

1 Corinthians 5:14-19 says, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

I thought about that passage when I saw this next video.

Danny DeVito Gives Advice on Honesty, Character, and Evangelism

Probably one of the best things I've ever heard on how to relate to people honestly was from the movie, The Big Kahuna (1999) starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito. I saw clips from the movie several years ago and they have stuck with me ever since. The movie takes place in a hotel room and involves three salesmen working in the Midwest. Spacey and DeVito are longtime friends and they have taken on a newcomer, "Bob." Bob is an idealistic Christian and he spends a good bit of his time trying to evangelize people. Spacey calls him on what he is doing and says that he lacks integrity for evangelizing on the job. After a blow-up between Spacey and Bob, DeVito confronts Bob about what honesty and character is.  It is insightful and really spoke to me about my motives in my interactions with people. Do I care for people because of who they are, or because of what I can get from them?

For my more sensitive readers, there is one inappropriate word in the clip spoken in context. Sorry to expose you to that, but I felt that the truth of what was said here far outweighed any offense that may be given.                                                                               

A few years ago, I travelled through Europe. I made a decision, thinking about what DeVito said, to not lay my hands on a conversation and try and steer it in a spiritual direction. I resolved to deal with people as people, not as evangelism projects. It was amazing. In spite of myself, I actually ended up getting into about 10 spiritual conversations with people. On several occasions, I ended up talking to people for hours about life and the conversation inevitably turned to God. I had determined to just be a human being, not a pastor or an evangelist. It was very freeing.

One time, I was hiking along the coast of Italy with a guy and he began comparing me to the guys that he had partied with the night before. He told me that I was much calmer and more peaceful than they were. Why? he asked. That was the perfect opportunity to tell him that my peace came from Christ. I actually decided not to. I just told him that I didn't feel the need to talk all the time - that I was pretty content as I was. I had nothing to prove. Instead of thinking that I had missed an opportunity, I trusted God to do with that conversation what he wanted. We ended up spending the entire day together and we talked a good deal about relationships, life, goals, and the future. He ended up asking me how I knew that my wife was the right one for me and I told him that I prayed and God told me. Intrigued, he asked me all about how I could receive guidance from God in issues like that and I was able to tell him what a relationship with God was like and how it worked. We talked a great deal about knowing God as he asked me question after question. Because I entered a relationship with this guy and saw him as a person instead of a project, God used the whole thing in the way that He wanted and far more came out of it than I ever could have created myself. I have continued to try and minister this way.

I've found it much harder to have relationships with people like this since I've been a pastor. There always seems to be this religious barrier up between me and those outside the church, like they think I'm going to assault them with Bibles or force them under the water against their will in some type of extreme baptism ritual. The fact that as soon as people find out I'm a pastor I see them visibly recoil has probably been the hardest part of being a pastor for me. It is not that I don't want to be rejected. It is that I hate the barriers that artificially seem to go up between me and other people. It takes a while to get them down as I have a lot of work to do to convince people that I am just a normal person desperately in need of God's grace and love just as they are.

When I think about it, DeVito was right on the character issue as well.  We don't really have character until we can admit that we've blown it and that we were wrong about things. It is the regret and the desire to change that puts us in touch with our weaknesses and hopefully, connects us with our true source of life and power, Jesus. IF we humble ourselves and look to Him. I think that so many of us as Christians feel like we have to maintain our own righteousness, so we can never admit a mistake or be real with people who are alienated from God. That makes us look pretty plastic because we aren't fooling anyone. Everyone can clearly see that we are not perfect. Why do we continue with the charade?

The times that God's life and power have flowed through me the most were times that I just cared about people and was myself. Religion always seems to get in the way. Religion teaches us to see people as projects to "win to Christ" or "reach" because religion is all about climbing the ladder to God. We have to show how we're further up the ladder than other people because our identity is based on where we are on the ladder. If we have our doctrine straight and we are in the club, so to speak, we feel better about ourselves, especially in relation to others. This kind of religion kills. But instead of falling into this trap, what if we got our identity from Christ and were free to just take an interest in people for who they were? What if we cared about people because they were made in God's image? All people have desires, dreams, hopes, and fears. They all have families, jobs, and most just want to live a good life and make some small difference in the world. I know that we are all born sinful, but our doctrine of original sin should not cause us to despise people to the point that we do not deal with them as the human beings that they are. Jesus was the holiest man that ever lived - He was God and Man. Yet, He caused prostitutes, tax collectors, and "sinners" to be at ease in His presence. How? I really believe that He treated people with respect and that love flowed through Him. He didn't have to rank Himself on the ladder in relation to others because He knew who His Father was and as a consequence, knew who He was as well. He brought the Kingdom of God with Him and people were drawn to the love and healing that He gave.

So, what I have found is that when I see people as people and not as commodities that I can use for my benefit, then I am much more likely to express the love of Christ to them in a way that speaks to their heart. Often, this happens more effectively when I do not have some grand plan, but rather, when I am just friends with people for the sake of being friends. God seems to move mightily through loving, respectful friendship. If you had to ask me, I never thought I'd get this kind of wisdom from Danny DeVito. He's not a very "religious" source, is he? Who knew? I guess that God teaches us in all kinds of ways if we would just be quiet long enough to listen.

The Righteousness of Christ

I write a lot about social justice issues, missions, and reforming culture. But, it is only possible for the Christian to engage in any of that because we have first and foremost been set free from our sin, death, Satan, and Hell by the blood of Jesus and His sacrifice and victory on the Cross and through His resurrection. Because "it is finished" we no longer need to make striving for our own righteousness before God our all consuming focus. We are free to serve God and others!  We can entrust ourselves to God and truly believe that we are righteous with the imputed righteousness of Christ! What a great salvation!

I first ran across Dr. Rod Rosenbladt a few years ago when a friend of mine passed me a little booklet called Christ Alone. It was gold. I happened to see a link to a Dr. Rosenbladt mp3 on The Gospel for those Broken By the Church. I have not listened to this yet, but a couple of excerpts are printed that I found helpful:

If the Ten Commandments were not impossible enough, the preaching of Christian behavior, of Christian ethics, of Christian living, can drive a Christian into despairing unbelief. Not happy unbelief. Tragic, despairing, sad unbelief. (It is not unlike the [unhappy] Christian equivalent of "Jack Mormons" - those who finally admit to themselves and others that they can't live up to the demands of this non-Christian cult's laws, and excuse themselves from the whole sheebang.) A diet of this stuff from pulpit, from curriculum, from a Christian reading list, can do a work on a Christian that is (at least over the long haul) "faith destroying."

He goes on:

Russell Moore on Spiritual Warfare, the Family, and the Rule of Appetites

Either the prophetic cry regarding our lifestyle choices and pursuit of the American Dream is getting louder, or I am just paying closer attention. As our economy tanks and our culture declines, I think that more and more Christians will begin to consider how we are living. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary takes aim at Southern Baptists' acquiesance to a culture run amok in materialism and hedonism. He hits this topic much harder than I have over the past few weeks as he talks to Southern Baptists about some timely issues. He says, "both left and right in the American mainstream are captive to the ideology that the appetites are to be indulged; the heart wants what it wants, by whatever system will do it most efficiently."  Moore is at his best in this article when he exposes the spiritual warfare that is taking place in our midst and how we have been deceived as we fall in line with the materialistic pursuit of our culture. He aptly points out that our enemy is not flesh and blood.

Moore's only weakness is that he is writing from a middle-class perspective as he critiques families where both parents are working. This is the reality for many families and there is really nothing that can be done about it. Instead of making families who HAVE to do this to survive feel bad, we should help them and support them as they provide for their families. His focus, however, is rightly placed on those families who could easily make it on one income, but choose to put children in day care to pursue a lifestyle of affluence. That action does require some analysis and alternatives need to be considered.

Overall, however, his take on this subject is timely - especially his comments on spiritual warfare. 

If We Want to Follow Jesus . . .

Americans are clustering more and more into cultural, social, economic, religious, and political enclaves according to Bill Bishop in his new book, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Basically, our affluence has led us to the place that most Americans want to live, work, and play with people just like them. The Homogenous Unit Principle that I spoke of a few posts ago, seems to be alive and well in an increasingly multicultural America. But, instead of becoming a melting pot, we look more like a salad bowl of Balkanized special interests. Of course, we have seen this for years with white-flight and the rise of the suburb, but it is now apparently happening across other areas of life and it has profound social, political, and religious implicatoins.

Beyond the Homogenous Unit Principle (HUP) to a More Holistic Gospel Witness

When I started seminary at Golden Gate in 1997, I took a preaching class my first semester. One day, a representative from Lifeway came in and began sharing with us principles on church growth. One of those principles was the Homogenous Unit Principle, articulated by Donald McGavran.  I had never heard this before, but it explained a lot. The HUP basically says that people most naturally congregate with people who are like them, therefore, church growth should take place among these affinity groups. The boundaries to evangelism are often more sociological than they are theological.  Those boundaries can be removed if the gospel is contextualized to each sub-culture and if churches are formed that affirm those sub-cultures. For example, if I am a middle class white man, then under this way of thinking, I would prefer to congregate with other middle class whites. Therefore, the best way to engage me with the gospel is to tailor ministry toward me in a way that is attractive to a middle class white male.

I was only 22 years old when I heard this principle shared by the man from Lifeway. This made some sense among groups with language barriers in places like India, but it did not really seem to fit what should be happening in a country like America. It sounded strange to me then because I did not see where it was biblical. Even though I was just a young white man from Mississippi, I didn't understand why church was supposed to be all about me. I remember asking a question of the man from Lifeway and my concerns were quickly dismissed as being uninformed. The HUP was presented to us as just the way of things, but for me, it did not seem right.  Wouldn't this perspective actually reinforce negative issues like racism, consumerism, and selfishness?

Chasing the American Dream?

Barna Research Group has some new information out about what constitutes the American Dream in people's minds. I'll jump straight to the polling results and commentary and then provide my thoughts at the end:

What Adults Want Their Future to Include

Desired Outcome	2008	2000	1993	1991
having good physical health	85%	91%	92%	93%
living with a high degree of integrity	85%	81%	n/a	76%
having one marriage partner for life	80%	79%	n/a	n/a
having a clear purpose for living	77%	75%	71%	n/a
having a close relationship with God	75%	70%	74%	72%
having close, personal friendships	74%	75%	79%	73%
having a comfortable lifestyle	70%	61%	72%	59%
having a satisfying sex life with your marriage partner	66%	63%	n/a	n/a
having children	66%	65%	n/a	n/a
living close to your family and relatives	63%	60%	63%	67%
being deeply committed to the Christian faith	59%	53%	n/a	n/a
making a difference in the world	56%	47%	n/a	n/a
having a college degree	46%	51%	n/a	n/a
being personally active in a church	45%	42%	n/a	n/a
traveling throughout the world for pleasure	28%	26%	n/a	n/a
working in a high-paying job	28%	29%	43%	36%
owning a large home	18%	21%	30%	23%
owning the latest household technology/electronics	11%	9%	n/a	n/a
achieving fame or public recognition	7%	6%	10%	10%
survey sample size	1003	1002	1202	1003

The Ideal Life

In commenting on these outcomes, George Barna, who has overseen this tracking research since it originated in 1991, pointed out some of the highlights of the new findings.

"Stability rules," Barna noted. "Out of nineteen factors, only two have seen even a ten-point shift in nearly two decades. That’s rather remarkable consistency. So much in our world is changing, yet people’s dreams for their life hinge on the same, unchanging desires: health, relationships, character, faith and comfort. As our life context changes, so do the ways in which people pursue and realize these dreams, but their desires remain anchored to some fundamental values that seem to weather the changing times."

Barna also indicated that the mainstream media has portrayed American society as changing more radically than it has. "There have been some hugely significant changes in the laws of the land over the past quarter-century. However, when you examine what people want, in essence they are seeking what used to be described as traditional family values: a single marriage for life, a solid family experience, displaying good character, living a life that has meaning and impact, and having an active faith.

"Sometimes the abundant opportunities and challenges of daily life distract or divert people from their commitment to these outcomes," the researcher continued, "but in their hearts they have retained some pretty basic and traditional hope and dreams. Leaders might take note of this and compare their own vision and plans for the future with the ideal life that Americans hope to experience."

_____________________________________________________________________________

Me: I am beginning to distrust a lot of these polls, because I don't think that people are answering truthfully, or if they are answering truthfully they might just be saying what their aspirations are without taking any real steps to accomplish them. I can say that spiritual growth is a goal in my life, but if I never get up from in front of the television and do anything to grow spiritually, then it really is not a goal. The same can be said about a number of issues. I think that these polls might reveal the things that people think are good in life, but when it comes down to it, our choices show what we really want. For example, only 18% of people say that owning a large home is a value to them? Have you seen the size of new homes recently? How many people that you know are still scrambling to get into bigger and bigger houses?  That might not be happening all over the country, but it is definitely happening where I live. It might be embarrassing to admit that that is a goal, but I think that it remains a goal for a large number of people.  Some of these values just do not match up with how people really live, day in and day out.

It has been said that you can tell what a person values by looking at their calendar and their checkbook. How we spend our time and our money says way more about us than random polls do. I am glad that 45% of people say that they want to be personally active in a church. But, considering the fact that the most recent polls tell us that average church attendance is actually around 20-25% of the population, it makes you wonder how much difference there is between people's stated desires and their actual behavior. It does seem that many people have decent values, at least according to what they say. Maybe the big problem is that they do not know how to live according to their values, or they do not see how it is possible. Maybe the tyranny of the urgent, selfishness, or weariness keeps them from really pursuing the things that they say they want. We live in a country where 75% of people want to be close to God, 59% of people want to be deeply committed to the Christian faith, and 45% of people want to be personally active in a church, yet church participation is falling throughout America, and every other philosophy is gaining ground. Why is this? Are these desires really genuine, or do people just see God as a means to a happy life?

Maybe this disconnect has something to do with what David Kinnaman has found in his research, also stated on the Barna website in February, 2008 (He also wrote the book unChristian along with Gabe Lyons):

People are expressing more hostility, doubt, frustration and skepticism toward Christianity - and this is particularly true among young people. Their perceptions of Christians are filled with images of judgmentalism, hypocritical lifestyles and political activism. They also believe Christians have singled out homosexuality above all other sins. They conclude that Christianity is old-fashioned, boring and unintelligent, and that Christians are insincere and too focused on getting converts. The followers of the Prince of Peace are thought to be unable to live peaceably among others.

These may sound like harsh statements, but they spring from extensive research we have done with Americans ages 16 to 29. Whatever your impressions, these negative views are front and center in the minds of young people in our culture. In just a decade, the perception of evangelicals has become eight times less favorable among young non-Christians when compared to the image held by Boomer non-Christians.

In fact, one of the most common reactions that young people have about the faith is that present-day Christianity is no longer like Jesus intended . This is where we initially came upon the term "unChristian." In our research with young people, they kept saying things like, "Christians go about things in an unChristian manner."

So, how do the stated aspirations of people in the aforementioned poll jive with the frustrations of emerging generations? Has the Church lost Jesus in our daily lives? Do people take their spiritual search elsewhere because we do not effectively or intentionally display who Christ is to a watching world? Do people want Jesus but not the Church? Or, is it just all their problem? This could be a great wake-up call for us! Perhaps the Church could come in here and do more to display the beauty of the Christian life in community so that people can see that the life that they have wanted is available in Christ. Isn't this why "sinners" flocked to Jesus? Of course, to gain eternal life, you have to lose your life, and that might be the kicker for some people. Repentance is not a popular concept, even among Christians. But, I still think that the Church can and should be the connection point between God and people's daily lives. Maybe we can actually connect people with the good values that we have if we would look to and live for Jesus and display His glory in the community that He has initiated: the Church (Please note that I am not talking about the institution here, I am talking about the ecclesia, the called out ones who come together to live for Christ). It seems like His plan is a pretty good one and if we would sincerely follow it we might be able to connect a generation of truth seekers to Christ.

UPDATE: Read the latest Pew Research Polls on American's diverse beliefs in religion HERE. Here's a preview: 57% of evangelicals say that "they believe many religions can lead to eternal life."  Wow.  I wonder if they even know that this contradicts what the Bible teaches (John 14:6 - "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.").  Compare these beliefs with the theological disaster that is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), (check THIS out as well) and we see the need for evangelicals to actually know what the Bible teaches.

Engaging People "Between the Times"

Eugene Peterson in, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction refers to Paul Tournier's description of being "between the times" when he says that it is when we engage in

the experience of being in between - between the time we leave home and arrive at our destination; between the time we leave adolescence and arrive at adulthood; between the time we leave doubt and arrive at faith. It is like the time when a trapeze artist lets go the bar and hangs in midair, ready to catch another support: it is a time of danger, of expectation, of uncertainty, of excitement, of extraordinary aliveness.

These are the times that people are most open to God, I think. God spoke to Abram and said, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you" Genesis 12:1. God put Abram in a "between the times" moment so he could hear from Him and be transformed, learning to rely only on God. Israel was in that moment both during the Exodus and when they entered the Promised Land. Jesus experienced it in the desert during the temptation when He displayed reliance upon God in overcoming every temptation. This happened before He started His ministry. The Bible seems to make much of these moments and they dominate our literature and film. "Between the times" moments constitute the fabric of all of our great stories.

How can we minister to people during these moments of potential growth and transformation? When people are in college and are getting ready to step into the world, how can we speak into their lives in ways that help draw them to reliance upon God? In 2004, I travelled through Europe and met many college students and young adults who were "between the times" of college and grad school or were about to enter the workforce. They were taking a pilgrimage, so to speak, to discover some things and figure out where they were headed. I got into more natural spiritual conversations with people on that trip than at any point in my life, I think. So many people are just trying to figure out how to live. In April, we were in Rishikesh, India, and there were Westerners everywhere who had come to this holy city on the Ganges looking for enlightenment. They were "between the times" in their lives and were looking for truth and direction. Yet, there were no Christian missionaries there to meet them. The only Christian witness in the entire city was a ministry that we had connected with that was doing work in the villages and with school age children. They were indigenous Indians. But, what if there were Western Christians or Indians there to meet the Westerners who were travelling "between the times" so that we could interact with them and point them to Christ? This is when they are open. It seems that we do not do these things because our ministry to people has become so tied to church growth that we almost think that random encounters are a waste because we cannot see the results. For many, this type of ministry would require a lot of faith. But, I think that it needs to be done.

There are so many other venues where "between the times" ministry can take place: Nursing homes, pre-marital counseling, boot camp for the military, youth ministry, ministry to young couples or young parents, etc. May God lead us into these situations so that we can meet people who are open, even if we receive nothing in return but the joy of seeing people open their hearts to God.  Really, that is all the reward that we should ever seek anyway.