How did we get in this position?

A church I like to follow, Newspring Church in Anderson South Carolina, recently did a service on the topic of Hell. It’s one of the most awesome things I have ever heard. I blogged about it several days ago. The message was called “Hell No”! The band played a several minute voiceless version of AC/DC’s Hells Bells. Then the pastor came out in a coffin. Dang! It was powerful! I was almost wishing I could get saved again. Well their church has been getting a lot of flack for the service from other churches. You can read about the flack here.

This really ticked me off. I left the following comment on Tony’s blog. I want to post it hear to maybe help people see part of my heart for reaching those who are far from God. Here’s my comment:

“I can’t stand not saying anything anymore! Tony, you and your church are involved in an amazing work of God! It kills me hearing all of these people talk about how it is wrong to use culture (words, dress, etc) to communicate the Gospel! Let me ask some of the detractors, if you were to go to China to evangelize would you learn Chinese? Would you dress like the Chinese? Would you learn their music and literature? Well, if you wanted people to be saved you would! Nobody would stand on a street corner in China and preach the Gospel in a language no one understood! You would learn their lingo and their ways. Only then could you CLEARLY communicate the most important message of all… the GOSPEL.

Newspring church is a missionary. A missionary to a world that speaks in two main languages “music” and “technology.” The AC/DC version of Hells Bells was one of the most awesome things I have ever heard. When I heard it I thought of a lost young man sitting in the service, singing the song to himself and finally realizing the hopelessness of the song and then turning his life to Christ. Over 800 people did that very thing. 800 people who wouldn’t be caught dead in a lot of churches. Sure, some of the salvations weren’t real. Some will not follow through. But that even happened to Paul in his ministry. A few fake conversions do not negate all of them.

Way to go guys! Way to take a dark portion of our culture and conquer it for Christ! Way to give one of the clearest most concise presentations of the Gospel I have ever seen. You guys are such an encouragement to me and hundreds of other church planters out there, hungry for a fresh move of God over our land… Hungry to see the church quit shunning the people Jesus died for…. Hungry to see the church become like Jesus… A FRIEND OF SINNERS!!!! ”

Have a GREAT weekend!

Randy