CHURCH PLANTERS…
We all have an element of pride in our troops…those who serve Jesus Christ in our church! If you are portable, i’m pretty certain you value them even more! At Greenbrier Church, all of our incredible servant volunteers are called “CREW”, but we count the “Set-Up & Break-down” CREW as our warriors. All of our CREW are awesome, but these guys arrive before the sun is up, set-up our church campus (items packed in a 24′ trailer, a 24′ U-Haul box truck and a 14′ box truck) in one hour or less. After services are over, they break-down the entire campus (staging in two environments, lighting, pipe-n-drape, Krispy Kreme boxes..wait – that’s where they are disappearing to!)…the ENTIRE Church Campus and load it back in our vehicles in…30 minutes..or Less! Since we meet in a Movie Theater, our time rental window is small, and our warriors make sure we honorGod & our contract. HUGE!
This past Sunday, what i believed about this CREW was confirmed. We have one BAD Set-Up/Break-Down Team! I would put them up against ANY Church CREW out there!
Why?
1. They do not move any equipment in or out of the Theater without praying together! Almost as much as me, they own the vision and want to see Greenbrier Church be a part of “Connecting The Disconnected with Jesus”!
2. Reasons listed above: setting up enough equipment in a Theater to fill a huge house…then loading it back up in less than 30 minutes. Whew!! …And most of them do this weekly.
3. Did i mention they are falling in love with Jesus and have servant hearts!
4. They catch and tackle wife abusers. Yep, this past Sunday after campus was set-up and the band was rehearsing, Set-Up CREW headed out for a quick breakfast together. In a parking lot across from the Evans 14 Cinemas, a woman was on the ground and her husband was on top of her, beating her up. Our warriors, who had just unloaded ALL of our equipment, raced over to the scene. As i have been told, the man (excuse me…) the “WIMP” who was beating his wife took off running. Our guys chased him about 200 yards and caught him. This man is alive and did not have his face beat in only because: 1.) our MEN (in a truer sense of the word) love Jesus and will not waste the God given skin on their knuckles on someone like this 2.) the wimp cried like a baby when he was caught 3.) Jesus loves him even still and will hopefully save his wimpy soul (Dudes, do not judge me. If i were there, juiced on caffeine and running on Jesus adrenaline prepped to preach twice as i was, he may have been dragged on stage as a sermon illustration: “This is a pummeled face…only God could love”.)
The police arrived…and the action was over. Though i heard the wife did not want to press charges, hopefully she wakes up from her “spouse abuse” mentality and gets away from him until he gets help.
Yes…these dudes are BAD! In fact, this morning, i found myself reading in 2 Samuel 23:8-39 – David & His Mighty Men. Whatever David put in front of them, they did every bit of it… and more…to serve their king. Our Greenbrier warriors, over and over, whatever has been put in front of them (as with all our CREW), they do it…and more…to serve the King Of Kings – My Jesus Christ!
Dudes i am blessed as a pastor, and even more so as a servant of Jesus among some awesome, BAD, Jesus freaks servants. Every last one of them goes to battle with me weekly! I’m proud of ‘em…and i’ll put them up against your team any day. Bring It On!
…and live reckless for my Jesus!