Relational, Transformative Christianity
An Intro to 2 Churches and 2 Pastors who are Raising Awareness in the High Country
By Ben Cox
This series of posts has been made possible by our wonderful partner High Country 365 Dining Passes!
Our Broken Culture
After some recent back pains sent me to the doctor, I had been prescribed physical therapy at the Wellness Center and found myself there one afternoon. It was in the lobby that I encountered an old acquaintance of mine; she had been purchasing Dining Cards from me for years and was at the center with her husband. The couple was in their seventies and he was receiving physical therapy because his body was wracked with pain - fifty plus years of operating a jackhammer for the highway crew will do that to a person.
We were exchanging pleasantries when she recalled that I was a pastor, and requested I pray for her husband’s condition. But, before we could start she began to talk politics, national and worldly affairs, and her deep concern for it all. Then she told me that she had to distance herself from a long-time friend because they were having such huge disagreements over political issues. It made me sad to hear this, not only because they had been friends, but because they attended the same church.
For reasons I don’t fully understand, when she told me this it impacted me deeply. I felt as if all of heaven was weeping because two sisters in Christ were now estranged due to differing opinions on current events. At that point I simply asked if we could pray for her husband and reached for her hand. We sat there in the lobby and I prayed, but I didn’t just pray for her husband’s broken body; I prayed for that broken friendship and our broken culture.
Not long after that, on a beautiful fall day when the leaf colors were beginning to change, I was in the parking lot of a popular High Country restaurant when I walked past 3 people standing amongst the cars. They were in the midst of an animated conversation, and in an attempt to be friendly and lighten things up a bit I said, “So, what are you folks doing - solving all the problems of the universe?” They laughed, as if to affirm that they were doing just that. So, then I said, “let me give you a few problems to add to your list.” We were laughing and the mood was light and then one of the ladies made a blatantly racist comment. “We’re just trying to solve ______ problem.” (Yes, she used the N word.) It so surprised and stunned me that all I could do was take a step back and respond with a “WHOA.” The people who were with her seemed as shocked as I was that she would say such a thing out loud to a total stranger. In fact, the lady who was with her said, in jest, “I don’t know her.” As I walked away, the words of a song from my childhood popped into my head: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I later wished that I had summoned the courage to turn around and simply sing those words to them.
Since we live in what some refer to as the Bible Belt, I’m almost positive that the words and tune to that song would have been familiar to those folks. Who knows? They may have even been professing Christians and churchgoers. But, Christian or not, churchgoer or not, that kind of racist rhetoric is inappropriate, inflammatory, and hateful. Clearly the Holy Scriptures proclaim that hatred, prejudice, and injustice run counter to the message of love, redemption, and reconciliation that Jesus taught.
Reggie and Jason
Now it’s one thing to know the truth of what I just said and to give mental ascent to it, but talk alone is cheap. It’s fairly simple work to find plenty of examples of polarizing words and actions that occur on a regular basis in our contemporary society. But, since merely focusing on poor behavior does little to solve the problem at hand, let’s shift our focus to a story about two friends of mine, Reggie Hunt and Jason English. These guys, along with many others in the High Country, are taking some practical steps to counteract racism, harmful rhetoric, and the thoughtlessness that diminishes us as a people. In doing so, their goal is to bring positive change to the spiritual climate of this region. Reggie and Jason both pastor churches in the High Country and it has been my privilege to be friends with these guys for many years.
Reggie came to Boone 21 years ago where I came to know him as a leader in a ministry called Young Life, an interdenominational organization that brings a unique and effective ministry to high school students. In 2004, pastor Reggie led a team of people to plant Cornerstone Summit Church in Boone, which is a thriving, racially diverse church. Currently they meet at Hardin Park Elementary School for their Sunday service and in small groups during the week. Plans are being made to break ground for a new worship center soon.
I met Jason English shortly after he moved to Boone in 2008, where we first got acquainted at a coffee shop and immediately hit it off. In fact, I liked Jason so much I gave him a job with my company. In that context, we prayed together every day and got to know each other. At the time, we didn’t have a clue that he would one day become a pastor at The Heart Church, where I have attended for 12 years now. The Heart is a church that was planted in 2001 by Howard’s Creek Baptist Church in conjunction with Greenway Baptist Church and the Three Forks Baptist Association. The founding team was led by my friends Richard and Terri Miller who are still an integral part of our church community. When Richard felt the pull of the Holy Spirit to pass the leadership baton to someone else, Jason English emerged as the man of the Spirit’s choosing. So now Jason is my friend and my pastor too! When I heard that Jason had become neighbors with Reggie and that they were becoming friends, it made my heart glad.
“May those of us who are followers of Christ be reminded that we can’t preach the good news and be the bad news. We need to be patient with each other remembering that we’re all ‘works in the progress.’ We must understand that it is the Lord’s will for us to become more Christ-like in our attitudes, dispositions, and demeanor. ”
Race Relations and 1 Heart for Boone
On Sunday October 9, 2016, I attended Cornerstone Summit Church and The Heart Church on the same day. That’s right, I attended both church meetings on the aforementioned Sunday and heard both pastors speak at each other’s worship services in a “tag team” type of way. Reggie Hunt encapsulated with that Sunday was about with this slogan: 2 churches + 2 services + 2 pastors = 1 heart for Boone. What they shared impacted both audiences in a way that I believe will have a positive ripple effect for the rest of us here in the High Country. Therefore, I invite you to open your minds and hearts and read about their journey as it related to race relations in our nation.
In a Bible Belt culture where many of us know John 3:16 by heart, let us be reminded that it was Jesus who actually spoke those words. Furthermore, it’s also important for people to understand the full context of where Jesus was and who He was speaking to, in order for it to have the full transformative power that it’s intended to have in our lives. Jesus was speaking to a religious leader who was a part of a religious system that desperately needed a Divine overhaul!
Consider with me John 3:16-21 (NIV):
“…God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believed in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Here in the South it seems to me that there is a great emphasis by many churches and Christians to proclaim a message whose intentions is to help people get “saved” so they don’t have to go to Hell when they die. That is a one-dimensional approach to the gospel which prevents well-intentioned people from experiencing the fullness of what Jesus intended for His followers to receive. Because of this type of teaching there are scores of sincere, benevolent people who “get saved” and then rededicate their lives to Christ over and over again only because they’re fearful of eternal consequences.
That type of mindset reduces Christianity to just another religion that has no real power to transform our lives in the present. In fact, that mentality unintentionally - and occasionally on purpose - relies on guilt and shame to motivate to people to get right and stay right with God. In actuality, the power of the cross is meant to remove guilt and shame from the equation and opens a way for us to have intimacy with a God of love and compassion that starts now and continues eternally. That type of understanding helps transform us into better people than we could ever become through out own efforts alone. It helps us experience an inward transformation that should continue evolving until we behold the Lord with our own eyes. When that day comes everything about us that still needs changing gets fixed in an instant, or as the Scripture says, “in the twinkling of an eye.” When we understand the gospel in that light it helps us to realize that we are blessed to be a blessing and a force for good in an evil world.
May those of us who are followers of Christ be reminded that we can’t preach the good news and be the bad news. We need to be patient with each other remembering that we’re all “works in the progress.” We must understand that it is the Lord’s will for us to become more Christ-like in our attitudes, dispositions, and demeanor. Embracing that attitude means we will resist the temptations to judge, live with prejudice, or to cut people out of our lives due to disagreements. It means we don’t dissociate with our friends or our enemies! Besides this, may we be on guard against our human tendencies to be harsh or mean-spirited by remembering our Savior’s admonition to do unto others as we would have others do unto us!
But, in closing, before you read the thought provoking words that Reggie and Jason have to say about such matters, I want us to consider 1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
This article was originally written for the Winter 2016 Edition of The Journey Magazine.