The House
Last weekend Janet and I visited our friends Randy and Heidi Jumper at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Randy heads up The House, First Assembly’s young adult ministry. On some Friday nights the ministry holds a prayer meeting they call Sanctuary. Jan and I attended an hour-long session that dealt with Peace and Love as fruit of the Holy Spirit.
We did Scripture meditation and some small group discussion in one room and then moved into a second space for another exercise. Randy encouraged us all to express love to the people in the “Contacts” list of our cell phones by calling or texting them to let them know what they mean to us. (Non-tech folks could receive a letter.)
We were to show love rather than just thinking or talking about it.
I moved to a more private part of the space and started sending out text messages (my default communication channel) to as many people as I could think of during the time we had. I literally started through my Contacts list and texted what I felt, mainly telling friends how I felt about them. I got back some moving replies.
The exercise made me realize how important it is to do something about love if it’s ever to grow inside me. It also showed me what a totally lucky guy I am to know the people I know. I feel rich when I think of the names in that Contacts list. What a great thing it is to know these people. On days when I feel like whining, this knowledge has a powerful maturing effect.
Oh yes, and I gave a talk for the young adults on Saturday night. You can watch the video here:
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Earl Creps—a popular speaker and leader—is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS) in Springfield, Missouri. He has been a pastor, ministries consultant, and university professor. Along the way, Creps earned a Ph.D. in communication at Northwestern University and a doctor of ministry degree in leadership at AGTS.
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Earl:
I am currently involved in beginning stages of being ‘reverse mentored’ a-la your OFFROAD DISCIPLINES book suggestion—just wondering – to jump start the process—what kinds of questions do you suggest I ask my 20-something mentor to get help me start drilling his wealth of young knowledge and perspective????