We received an invitation from the bass player at our church to attend an event where his Christian band will be playing. What else would we be doing on a Saturday night in a different country with no friends yet? So we went. Shortly after his band played, a Spanish Rap group performed. Note: I didn’t care for them at all (except for the beats that they stole from recognizable rap artist).
Apparently the “raperos” attracted a different audience. I looked over at a couple young men and one of their haircuts struck me as pretty strange, but very funny. So I chuckled and told Romon to check out his hair cut. Romon said, oh those are some of the street kids. I took a closer look and noticed their lack of hygiene and a back pack full of items they use for entertaining people at red lights. It’s how they make their living. I was suddenly filled with guilt for laughing at them. I thought, “I’m a horrible Christian”. After that heart check, my heart was overwhelmingly filled with compassion for these guys.
I thought, this is perfect they came to a Christian event, they must be searching. Searching for what? Answers. God. With all these Christians here, they are sure to find what they’re looking for. I couldn’t take my eyes off of these two. I know my Spanish isn’t great enough to communicate with them, but even if it were, what would I say? I have no way of relating to them. So I relied on these workers who were walking around with banners that said, “We are One World. Are you?” What the heck does that even mean? I just wanted to rip those stupid banners into pieces and tell someone can you focus on these lost souls please?!!! Not one person reached out to them. They eventually walked away. Possibly off to work.
Gosh, this Christian culture is so backwards. We’d rather see that everyone in the audience is having a good time than seeing to it that people are being given an opportunity to meet Christ. These were my honest feelings. (From what I understand the organization has many great intentions, I just didn’t see much productivity in it last night).
3 lessons I learned about myself at this event:
1- I’m not as great as I think I am. I still need to work on a lot of things internally.
2. I was as guilty of not presenting the gospel of Christ to these young men because I wasn’t prepared.
2. I need a game plan. What will I do the next time I am given such an easy opportunity to meet a need for someone and lead him/her to Jesus whom I KNOW changes lives in a tremendous way?
What are your suggestions for this game plan? (Please withhold from all unproductive, super religious perspectives. I’m planning on reaching nonreligious folks). Thanks!
Melinda
melindagore.wordpress.com 
Hey Melinda, great blog! What one of the missionaries at Roca Blanca is doing to reach the fishermen in our village is having dinners at random non-church peoples houses and inviting people to dinner or making it a potluck. And then after dinner asking each person to share a little about their week and how each person needs prayer or what help they need practically and then having a short time of prayer and then short brief but relevant time of sharing the word. It has been super effective, not in church so they are not intimidate or turned off. Having get togethers in a neutral place. If you were to target these kids there is another ministry (all females) in Thailand that goes to local bars not to pick up men but to talk to and get to know prostitutes and they sit at a bar table and make cute jewelry and then recruit women that would want to leave prostitution. I say that to say maybe find something you could do to attract unsaved people to a neutral place, like a coffee shop or even a park area, teach English or find someone that can teach a skill that they could do to get a job like training them on the computer or how to answer phones. While they are learning said skill you could aslo ask them about their lives and their problems and build relationship, or just invite them to hang out once a week and talk and share as well. sorry I wrote a mini-book but just some ideas to help. keep the blogs coming.
Hey Danbi,
No worries about your mini-book. haha. Thanks for the comment. I think meeting at a local place is a great idea. I don’t want to just focus on reaching a particular group of people (like just the street kids). I was looking for what will be my game plan next time I’m presented with an opportunity to reach one of these young men. It’s possible, but unlikely to meet someone for the 1st time, present them a speech about Christ, and they are ready at that moment. But I would want to at least plant a seed so someone else may have a chance to water it.