Sunday and a man called, "Sam"

I think this past Sunday was an incredible wrap up to our UCF Backstage Series. I am in awe at God's providence and plan. I was excited going into the service because I knew the parts of the service that were going to be incredibly powerful - worship, parent-child dedication, the talk and the baptism video. Having a baptism video (that was shot at the baptism celebration on May 4th) at the end of the service was incredible. It is the capstone of all that we do because it is the outward expression of people choosing to trust Jesus and begin imitating Him. The baptism video was the planned part and a man who called himself "Sam" was the unplanned part.

Now regarding Sam, I know this may astonish some of you, but I believe that Sam was a person trying to scam our church and prey on the generosity of UCF. I did not know this at the point in the service when he stood up unsolicited and shared his story. For those who were not there, he shared that he was homeless, but had recently accepted Jesus as his Savior when someone shared Christ with him at a Burger King restaurant. He shared how God miraculously provided some clothes for him and that he had called his mom who had been praying for him. He stated that he was trying to get to Oklahoma to see his mom. I was stunned and felt compelled to let him tell his story. All I knew to do was pray for him and work out the details of helping him after the service. I prayed earnestly for him and thanked God for everything that we had been a part of in welcoming and showing love to Sam that morning. As soon as I sat down, during the closing song, I heard from a few people that this story was the same story that someone who called himself "Sam" stood up and shared at three other churches in our community recently. After a few seconds of thought and prayer, I asked Todd Murphy (part of UCF's Lead Team) to talk with Sam and decide how to handle the situation. There was a news report tonight on this scam taking place in several churches around the Charlotte area. Many of you handed me money to use for Sam's need. After talking with Sam and inquiring a little deeper into his story, Todd took him out to eat, dropped him at McDonald's to meet “his ride” and gave him a modest amount of travel money. He knew that we were on to him, but we still loved him and helped him.

Here is a few of my thoughts...

... the first thing that came to my mind when I realized what was probably going on was a verse in Genesis 50:20. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers is now facing the challenge of forgiving his brothers as he is now the one in power in Egypt and they are at his mercy. And this is what he says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done." Joseph knew that God is so powerful that He can work his will out through the selfish ambition and devious schemes of people. I believe that is what God did on Sunday morning. While "Sam" may have thought he was there to get some fast cash and pull off a scheme, he didn't realize that he was a part of a service that God had planned. He didn't realize that is words drove home the point of how important it is to love and serve people, no matter what their agendas are. We loved him, accepted him, put out a sign for him, set up a cafe for him, provided coffee and bagels for him, engaged him in conversation and generally loved him - even after we knew what he was about. He drove home the point of Sunday's message better than I could have and he didn’t even know it. What he intended for harm, God intended for good to accomplish what is being done at UCF.

... The message that many of you experienced on Sunday was real even though the motives behind the message from Sam was fraudulent. God genuinely moved in your hearts and you felt compassion for a man you didn’t know and you wanted to help. Do not allow the sin and selfishness of people to harden you to the real need that is all around you. The world is coming to us (19th fastest growing county in the US) and we need to meet them with generosity and compassion so that we can point them to the one that makes all the difference in the world – Jesus.

… Jesus said that we are sent out like “sheep among wolves” so we are to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” I think we were definitely this on Sunday. We were wise and shrewd. We didn’t fill Sam’s pockets with money and allow his scam to work, but we didn’t turn him away either. We genuinely loved him, prayed for him and gave modestly to him. Everything that was given to me to give to him wasn’t needed, so I am giving it to Patrick Shaunessy to purchase some bus passed for our friends in uptown Charlotte who are homeless and really need some rides. We have limited amounts of time, money and energy. We must be good stewards of all of these so that we can advance God’s agenda most effectively in the world. We have to evaluate and make a plan. We didn’t necessarily have a plan for this scenario going in, but we had leaders in place who knew what to do and initiated compassionate, wise, innocent action. That is the community of God at work.

… Think of the boldness that it takes to pull off a scheme like that. To interrupt a service and boldly tell your story even though it is false. That takes guts and it is risky! He comes into our church and stands up and speaks up. I wonder what would happen if we went into our world and loved people with that kind of boldness and risk. I wonder what would happen if we went out with pure motives and took major risks to communicate love.

… Sam knew that we were on to his scam and yet he still experienced love and generosity moving towards him. I hope that Sam would be genuinely stunned by how people served him, talked with him, sat with him, and loved him – before and after we found out what he was up to. I am proud to be a part of a generous, caring, God-orchestrated community – keep loving loud… Sam heard it!

Love Loud… Risk Often,
David