A Wardrobe Full of Clothes...

The following was written by my current ministry partner, Nathan Bills, about an incident that took place in church on Sunday, March 12th.


We jump-start every Sunday worship service with a time of testimony, confession, sharing, and prayer. This period is an opportunity for the church to get honest with itself about the struggles, the victories, and the places where God’s hand is at work (or needs to be at work). I never know quite what to expect, but we often have church members bring a range of emotions—joy, grief, anxiety, thankfulness—peppered with supportive “hallelujahs” or “help’em Lords.” It frequently becomes something of a faith rally for many of our members who feel burdened and beat up by last week’s events. We aim to give each other encouragement and comfort, especially to those whose self-esteems have sustained deep wounds. Yet, it was during this period of time a few Sundays ago that I had to laugh at a church member who began to self denigrate herself.

“I can’t hang,” she said as she launch her self assault. She went on to narrate an embarrassing experience that teenage girls would deem a nightmare. She had decided, with another church member, to put on some new clothes (i.e., get fresh) and find a club in Memphis where the duo could hang out on a weekend night. Now, West Memphis has it share of clubs, but these two ladies, like two kids sneaking out of the house against parental consent, both reasoned that by going to Memphis they would remain in cognito, avoiding the potentially awkward situation of explaining their little Christian lights in a nightclub (all around the nightclub scene, I’m gonna let it shine!). They had no intentions of participating in questionable behavior while at the club. They just wanted to hang out. They merely had a hankering to hang out…like they used to every weekend years ago.

The daring escapade was a disaster. They discovered they could not “hang.” The two felt so out of place that they retreated to their car soon after they arrived. Before declaring defeat, they discussed attending a club in West Memphis, but they could not muster enough courage even to venture into the parking lot. So, in an act of surrender they raised their white flag and went to Waffle House. There they sat, two women decked out in their finest passing each other the syrup. Not exactly the hot spot in West Memphis!

After lamenting her experience to the congregation, we all laughed. I like laughing with church members who are no longer in vogue, no longer hip, in the words of our youth—“lame.” She ended her statement by praising God for changing her. It was not too long ago, she recalled, that she lived for that kind of excitement. However, God is doing his work in her life, and she has found her previous lifestyle to be unfulfilling, to be nothing compared to “hanging” with the Christ. She is being transformed, and her fleeting flirtation with her old ways just confirmed for her how “out of this world” her life has become. But this has created a new problem for these ladies: they now have “a wardrobe full of clothes and nowhere to go,” as they phrase it. I disagree…they have clothed themselves with Christ and are set foot on the narrow road that few find.

Different Sights

If you were driving around West Memphis last week you may have seen some unusual sights on Wednesday and Thursday (March 15-16). Both days there were almost 30 individuals who were out in neighborhoods on the east side of town going door to door knocking and simply asking those at home if they could pray with them. Thursday afternoon if you drove by the park at S. 14th between Polk and Broadway around 4:30pm you would have seen 25 young white individuals hanging out playing games with kids from the neighborhood. If you drove by the Wonder City building about that same time you would have seen about 30 people lined up outside waiting to come in and receive clothes from our annual spring and summer clothing giveaway (a total of 66 families came between 4:30 and 6:30).

These different sights have several things in common. First, they were all possible because a group of college students from Oklahoma Christian University gave up their spring break to come to Memphis and serve in the MUM church plants. Second, they all showed the community that we (Wonder City) are in their community and we care about the community. We care enough to come to your home and sit down, listen to what is going on in your life, and pray for you. We care enough to go to your park and hang out with the kids from your neighborhood and play with them. We care enough to provide clothes for those who don’t have the clothes they need.

That is exactly what Jesus did. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (The Message). He moved into the neighborhood because he and the Father care about the neighborhood. We are in the neighborhood because we care about the neighborhood. Nathan (my current ministry partner) and I were talking the other day that all many people want to know is that someone cares about them. We were able to do that on a larger than normal scale thanks to OCU kids who gave up their spring break. I challenge you to reach out today to someone who may think no one cares about them and let them know that you do care specifically about them?

I Need to Rant

About two weeks ago a couple of events were brought to my attention that absolutely floored me and made me very angry. What is sad is that both of these events involve the same basic type of situation and age “appropriate” (read inappropriate) consequences. Neither of these events was just nor helped the individuals involved.

First, I was told about a four year old who was suspended from pre-school for four days for scratching another kid. The situation was basically this. A little boy in the pre-school class had been picking on one of our member’s daughter. At one point a couple of weeks ago he bit her. This day he was pulling on her arm. She retaliated by scratching him. For that she received a four day suspension from school! What!?!?! Do we not expect kids to be kids anymore? Do we not expect little children to not retaliate when they are being picked on by other children? Do we now as a society expect four year olds to be perfectly behaved little people? I am not saying there should not be consequences for actions. But I don’t remember kids being suspended for days when getting into trouble when I was in school—especially being suspended for something like scratching another kid.

The other event involved an older teen student. This young lady I was informed spent a few days in jail a couple weeks ago for fighting at school. I have not heard most of the details involving this situation, except that she was arguing with a teacher. The problem I have with her revolves around this specific young lady. She is currently staying with her aunt. Her mom’s boyfriend was sexually abusing this young lady and mom took the boyfriend’s side in the matter. To top it off she is pregnant and there is a chance that the baby is mom’s boyfriend’s. I can’t imagine being in that situation. I can only image how much anger is inside her that she has to work hard at every day to keep under some kind of socially accepted control (many times she doesn’t do a good job). Please, someone tell me how jail helps her situation? She doesn’t need jail. She needs counseling—lots and lots of counseling. She needs love, grace, mercy. She needs men in her life who will not take advantage of her. But instead of those things, when her anger explodes out, she is sent to jail!?!?!

A fellow minister hit the nail on the head when I was talking about these events to him. He said, “Common sense has become uncommon!” That couldn’t be any truer. It seems in many areas of society our answer to situations is not to deal with them. We push them off on someone else (suspend from school or sent to jail—“anything so that I don’t have do dig deeper and find out what is going on”). We ignore the deeper problems hoping they will go away on their own, and all the time they are tearing individuals, families, and society as a whole apart. What we need is some more common sense. What we (Wonder City, the church, society) need is caring individuals who will look beyond the outward signs of anger. We need people who are willing to dig a little deeper and find out what is really going on and then get the appropriate help. Next time you encounter a difficult and angry person, please don’t just brush them off and pass them off to someone else. Please take a minute and show some care and compassion. That’s what Jesus would do.