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Wednesday 18 February 2015

Indiana Revival Report: Day 37

A humorous incident happened Tuesday when a team took to the community to pray for people. The usual procedure is to ask the Holy Spirit to guide the team to a Divine Appointment, then poll the team members to see where the Spirit is leading. If all are in agreement, that becomes the battle plan.

Just to give an example that was shared publicly, G. was clearly led to pray with a specific woman at 3:30 on a specific day at a specific Dairy Queen. She would have shoulder-length red hair and glasses. So he put his team together and showed up at the restaurant half an hour early. The place was virtually deserted, with only one male customer present. As each customer walked in, the team looked up eagerly to see if it was The One. But as time passed, no one materialized, and at 4:30 the dejected team left the Dairy Queen. G. shared the results of the failed mission with Kyle.

The next night, the story came out, and this is how it unfolded: Kyle stepped down from preaching to tell G. in amazement that right there in the front of the auditorium was a woman with shoulder-length red hair and glasses, wearing a Dairy Queen uniform! G. approached her, and it turned out that she had in fact passed by his group on her way to work in the back, but with her red hair up and concealed under a net. She sensed what they were there for, and was in no mood to be prayed for, so she hurried to the back hoping they wouldn't corner her. G. had been so focused on customers that he'd never thought to examine all the workers! So she got prayed for anyway, just a day later, once the conviction typical of true revival compelled her to the meeting, still in her work clothes.

Okay, so back to Tuesday's adventure, involving a not-quite-so-disguised redhead:

O., the team leader (wearing both jeans and dangly earrings, which she admitted wouldn't get her past the door back at the church she grew up in), felt that God was leading them to pray for a red-headed woman at a clothing store. As they made a wrong turn on their way to the location assigned to their particular team, all agreed that this was God's way of redirecting them. R. (sporting a minimal beard and a wedding ring), like O., had flown in from out of state to join the outreach. He had the car turn around when they passed a fabric store. "That must be the place!" L., a local woman who sometimes purchases fabric at the store to make her own dresses, pointed out that there were two stores next to each other, so the team split up to cover them both. O. headed for the fabric store with L., whilst R. and the rest of the team took the variety store. When they tarried long, O. and L. headed over to see what was taking them so long.

Sure enough (or was it 'close enough?'), there had been a Mennonite woman behind the counter at the variety store, her red hair neatly pinned beneath a transparent cap. When R. (a former Mennonite himself) offered to pray for her, he was taken back by her response: She wasn't about to have any man pray for her who was wearing jewelry! Rather than remove the ring, R. called L. over, on the grounds that she was at least as plainly attired as the proprietress. L. proceeded to pray for her, thankful along with ex-conservatives R. and O. that the team had included at least one currently conservative member! For his part, R. realized that having a Mennonite background isn't always enough when it comes to being able to connect with a Mennonite!

Despite her initial reluctance, the red-haired proprietress ran out as the team was getting ready to drive off, and handed each of them a CD of a capella music she'd pulled from her discount rack--implying, perhaps, another sore point between her and Revive INDIANA. 

1 comment:

  1. That is a great Dairy Queen Story. Here is a Dairy Queen Story of my own that happened a few years ago:

    This happened just a few days ago [in 2012]. I hitchhiked from North Bend to the west side of Eugene, Oregon. I had to walk with my backpack in 90 degree heat through Eugene and through Springfield (which is a number of miles). By the time I got to the east side of Springfield, my feet were aching and I was very tired.

    I saw this evangelical church. They had a sign that said they were going to have a concert and free hot dogs. All I needed was to fill up my water bottle, because it was so hot. There were chairs set up outside the church and some people were setting up musical equipment. I put my backpack down next to the building and grabbed my water bottle.

    I walked up to the people and asked if I could fill up my water bottle. The leader looked at me and hesitated (he probably saw my backpack) and then he said okay. I walked inside the church building and filled up my water bottle. I thanked them and tried to start a little conversation by mentioning that I was into intercessory prayer; there was no response.

    I walked back to my backpack. Nobody invited me to their concert, nobody asked me if I needed a hot dog, nobody suggested that I sit down for a while and rest my tired feet (I was hobbling a little because I had been walking for miles in the heat with a 55 pound backpack). I walked away from that church building knowing that the spirit of Christ was not there–but I am sure they thought they were Christians because they went to a church building on Sunday to socialize (idolatry).

    I walked on down the street and noticed a Dairy Queen sign. I had a few dollars on me, so I walked into the Dairy Queen. I bought my first cherry milkshake in years. After I finished my milkshake, I walked outside to my backpack. There was this family sitting at a table outside near my backpack. As I grabbed my backpack, they asked me what I was doing.

    I told them about my life on the road and that I was obeying the Lord. We had the most wonderful fellowship. They wished me good travels as I walked on down the street. It was SO redeeming. That fellowship was so spontaneous and full of the Holy Ghost; they were genuinely interested in my life of hitchhiking and obeying the Lord.

    That family at that Dairy Queen were so alive in Christ. That evangelical church was absolutely dead.

    I should go to Dairy Queen more often.

    ReplyDelete

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