Monday, July 13, 2009 ~ Owen Gentry
While I didn’t regret it, my brain
questioned the reality that I had actually raised my hand and
volunteered for this gig. I sounded pretty convincing, too! The
confidence that came from my mouth about the need to not just meet, but
grow close to, potentially a few hundred people that didn’t know me
from Adam and didn’t invite me to their neighborhood streets didn’t
sound like something I should be saying. Would this make me the next
best thing to a door-to-door salesman, or worse, a street-corner crazy
singing, “The end is near?!?” As an honest, respectable clean-cut guy
that doesn’t have too much of a revolutionary streak, I was doing
something pretty outside the respectable, clean-cut norm.
But I knew then and I know now that this
truly is a norm that shouldn’t be standing in the way of building
relationships that matter, relationships that brought me to faith and
that are modeled after the relationship that Christ has with me. The
way God brought out my voice is a testament to how He is so much
larger, powerful, and generous than I ever will be. I was going to turn
down this opportunity because I might feel awkward or weird (or what, ashamed?)
to talk to people about their needs, their neighborhood, and Jesus. I
can’t say how glad I am that God acted in me at a moment like that.
For about two months now, I have been walking around the streets of Hamilton Heights and Wells-Goodfellow, (this
area), asking people about their lives and how we can pray together. Since the first day we went out together, our Cross the Street team has
continued to see God put Christians and non-Christians in our path that
are honest, open, and excited - and even more exciting, it wasn’t
awkward, or weird (or shameful). We don’t have an agenda or a purpose
other than to see what crops up and glorify Him. God is making this
exciting and personal in ways that are empowering people right from
where they are.
When I say he’s empowering people, I
don’t just mean those we meet. He’s challenging and empowering our team, too. The more I serve, the more I realize that there is no "us/them" mentality in God’s eyes. In Romans 3, Paul tries to break down
the barriers between all people judging each other by putting it in the
shadow of the Cross - “This righteousness is given through faith in
Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and
Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, and
all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came
by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:22-23) As I take
this to heart, I am realizing new depths of what it means that God lets
us, those who ‘fall short’, have a role for furthering His Kingdom.
It’s transforming for our spirit and our streets. “He did [this
sacrificial act of love] to demonstrate his justice… so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”(Rom 3:25-26) He gives us a clear examples of what gives Him pleasure, and why. There is a tangible taste of justice simply knowing people on Monday nights, knowing that He knows us, too.
I encourage anybody at the Journey, on
the internet, or anywhere in St. Louis, to come and meet our Cross the
Street team on Monday nights – shoot me an email if you are interested
in doing some walking and talking, or even just praying for us and
these neighborhoods. I’m at owen.gentry@missionstl.org. We’re really looking for more volunteers willing to get excited about seeing God work through Cross the Street.
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