Saturday, August 19

A ‘Boo Radley Moment’…

      This past Thursday evening I had the opportunity to speak to the Smoky Mountain Christian Men's Fellowship here in Knoxville. For over 50 years the SMCMF has been participating in planting churches, assisting in the planting of over 30 new churches.
      The invitation to speak came as a result of the partnership that has developed between SMCMF and those of us here in Knoxville that are planning on launching this 'newthing' God is calling us to in February of 2007. Since the opportunity was presented to us back in April to plant a new church we have been in conversations with SMCMF.
      The talk went well. Thanks to all of you came out to show your support and try to get the pulse for this organization that is partnering with us...(Stadia and NewThing Network are also partnering with us).
      It was great to be able to share the heart and the vision behind what we feel God is leading us to here in Knoxville. And it was great to meet some new people that want to be a part of this 'newthing'.

      The response from those in attendance was incredibly positive and encouraging... Everyone in attendance seemed to understand our desire to be a faith community helping people find their way back to God...except one.

      It is actually extremely difficult to describe in print what happened right after I finished speaking... The best way may be to simply quote Kevin Reeve, quoting the movie 'Benny & Joon', when Joon looks at Sam and says, "Having a Boo Radley moment, are we?"
      Let me attempt to define...

Boo Radley
n 1: A recluse from the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”

A Boo Radley Moment
n 1: An example of awkwardness and confusion based on either simple misunderstanding or lack of knowledge.
2: Moments present in many aspects of daily life and can range from a simple lack of reading and comprehension skills, to a more socially misunderstood form of communication.

      Actually, there were a few 'Boo Radley Moments' throughout Thursday evening, but I will simply share the 'Boo Radleyest' of them all...

      Shortly after finishing my talk the leader of meeting asked if there were any questions... A gentlemen on the far left side of the sanctuary stood up and said he had a few words to say. He unfolded a piece of paper and began reading a poem. Even though the poem spoke of many of the same things I had spoke about just a few minutes earlier, (making sure Jesus is the point of any church, that we need to remove all obstacles for people to come to Jesus), he read the poem with such anger and intensity I could see that this wasn't going to be good.
      After the angry poem part, which I was pretty sure was simply a bad SNL sketch, he began a diatribe against all organized religion, the SMCMF, the church building we were in, and I think he defamed Rick Warren and Hawaiian shirts, but I'm not sure.
      Evidently, he felt he was attacking me and what I said because he sort of apologized in the midst of the rant for doing so. The funny part about that, (as if we needed more humor), is that my two sons were seated behind this gentleman during the service and said that throughout my talk he had continually dozed off and missed much of what I said.
      Once he finished, he sat back down, waited about 2 minutes and then got up and left the building. A couple of people went to try and catch him before he left, but 'crazy prophet man' was in his car and gone. No one knew who it was and no one's quite sure what he was trying to say...

      Sometimes you meet people in life and almost immediately you know what you'd give them if you could give them any present in the world. This was one of the people... May our dear Father in heaven grant this gentlemen the deepest of all understandings of the love of God and may the grace of God overwhelm him everyday of his life like ocean waves washing over him time and time again.

shalom


For those of you that attended Thursday night...I'd love to hear your thoughts on the night's events...

Mark Nelson at 10:36 AM 3comments

3 Comments

at 6:19 PM  Anonymous said...

DON'T TALK ABOUT ME ON THE INTERNET! GARRRRR! I'M CRAZY PROHPET MAN!

 

at 8:43 AM  Anonymous said...

It could've been really bad, but it seems like this man was somewhat missing a few cards, if you know what I mean. For instance, he really could've been thoughtful, attentive, and intelligent, and waited to be spoken to later and possibly he could've made a ton of sense. You can write about this because it sounds like a really surreal moment that doesn't damper anything you're trying to do.

By the way, time for a new font or you're paying my optometry bill. :)

 

at 2:47 PM  Anonymous said...

my thought is forget crazy prophet man...he just needed a drink. a really stiff one.

to me, the real important part of the night was the contrast between what you were saying and what Dr. Clark brought up. the old ways are dying...and the oldest guy there recognized it! think of all the implications to that! we were there to witness the long-awaited birth of something new amidst the groaning sounds of death. that summed up the whole night for me.

although crazy prophet man was fun.

oh...and if Jeff had a Mac (praise be the name) he could simpy push the "larger font" button. pshh....PC users. so, so lost.

 

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