Head--Hunting for Jesus

About a year ago, I “did” a wedding … Well, I didn’t officiate it. I didn’t do marriage counseling. I didn’t even have a part “in” the wedding.

Daniel simply asked me to be the DJ for the reception! For some reason, he assumed that preachers were all-purpose and multi-talented. He was wrong. But I took him up on the offer anyway, and showed up to “spin discs” as they call it in the professional DJ business.

I distinctly remember “spinning one disc” and bumping the table, which caused the music to come to a crashing halt. I can’t honestly say that I did a very good job.

But it turned out that Daniel’s stepdad was a man named Clint Rabb. I’d never heard of Clint. Turns out he worked for the General Board of Global Ministries.

I had just become interested in mission work, so I cornered Clint a couple of times and picked his brain about the Board. I ended up getting his e-mail address, and he ended up with a copy of my application. It was that wedding encounter that changed our lives forever.

Because it was Clint who called us that fateful last day of March with an invitation to go to Cameroon.

When Leah saw him this morning, she hugged his neck and said, “Thank you so much!”

He smiled and laughed, knowing that it had as much to do with the work of the Holy Spirit as anything else.

We traveled into New York City this morning, and gathered at 475 Riverside Drive, the home of the General Board of Global Ministries. Clint spoke to our group about his work in the Evangelization and Church Growth branch of the Board. It is this branch which is directly responsible for the New Mission Initiative in Cameroon.

Clint made it very clear that he believes the one key to a vital, excited, enthused church is involvement in mission. I couldn’t agree more. His particular role in the United Methodist Church is to encourage the initiation of new “stuff” – new churches, new ministries, new methods, new strategies for reaching the world for Christ, and new missionaries! (For information about this part of the Board’s work, check out www.inmissiontogether.com.)

I am grateful that when Clint looked at me, he didn't see simply a wedding DJ! Instead, when he looked at Leah and I, he saw a chance for new “stuff” to happen. When he glanced our way, he sensed that there was a possibility for something new and different to happen elsewhere in the world.

This is his “job,” of course, but it is also a unique sort of ministry. His job is to be an entrepreneur for the Holy Spirit, a kind of head-hunter for God’s mission. He beats the bushes, looking for inroads and untraveled paths, and for pioneers to wander down these new avenues.

I’m glad that God put us in his path. And I hope that I can have the same kind of ministry someday. It sounds exciting to be someone who seeks and finds opportunities to share Christ’s love, as well as to seek and find people who are uniquely gifted to share Christ’s love in their own ways.

Thank you, Clint!

And good night, Rachel, Chloe, and Mallory.