This is a guest post by Jeff Vanderstelt. He is a pastor at Soma Communities, an A29 church in Tacoma, WA. He is leader of leaders and a coach and trainer for church planters. His background includes music, business management, working with youth, training youth workers in North America and Europe and starting new churches.
“This is Jeff, that pastor I told you about that is not like a normal pastor,” Amy said as she introduced me to Clay. Clay and Christie had children who attended our local elementary with Amy’s children. Amy had told us many times that she didn’t believe what we did. However, she regularly introduced us to her friends thinking they might be interested.
We’d lived in the neighborhood for three years with the intent of bringing good news to this community, and that the syllables and sentences were meant to be enfleshed. We started by hosting a cookout every Friday night. At first we were told people didn’t do that in our neighborhood. However, the kingdom of God has the power to break in and create a new culture. It happened. Dinner parties became more normative, as did other celebrations.
Typically we hosted the Halloween party, but this year our neighbors wanted to. Clay and I were outside in the damp Puget Sound night with the kids while the women stayed back. I asked Clay about himself, where and how he grew up, and what he loved. By the end of the evening, I had gained a new friend and an understanding of how to share the good news to him. Clay was a typical Northwesterner. He was looking for peace, light, and power but had no place for God at that point. He and Christie joined us for several dinner parties and nights out following our first meeting.
One night Clay asked if we would join he and his family for a weekend away at the coast. He had just come back in from surfing. “I love the ocean! The waves, the wind, the power I feel when I’m on my surfboard . . .I love it!” he said. Then he asked, “What do you think it is about the water? The power . . .why do I feel so connected to it?” I responded, “Well Clay, the power in the water is telling you what God is like. He created everything to point to his invisible attributes. God is powerful. The waves are directing you to Him. The problem, however, is that we all fail to give God credit and we worship His creation instead of what His creation is pointing to.” “Well,” he replied, “I don’t know about that, but there’s something there.”
After we put our children to bed, we were sitting together in the hot tub. Clay broke the silence, “So, Christie and I want to let you know why we invited you to join us here. Our daughter, Emma, has been asking questions about God and we don’t know what to tell her. What do we say?” The months of eating, celebrating, listening and loving had built a foundation of trust. For several minutes I told God’s redemption story through Jesus from the first Creation to the New Creation.
After that weekend, Clay and Christie started serving in our community garden. We had decided the best way to serve our widowed, hoarding neighbor was to turn her forest-like backyard into a garden for our neighborhood. I continued to tell Clay about God’s kingdom, using the garden as a metaphor of God’s plan to restore all things through the person and work of Jesus.
My 40th birthday rolled around and Jayne planned an incredible party. The whole night was a beautiful picture of God’s Kingdom and a foretaste of the future party we will have with Jesus. At the end of the night, she invited people to toast me. Many in our missional community toasted to the ways they observed Jesus at work in and through my life. Amy, our neighbor, got up, raised her glass and said, “You know I don’t believe what you believe. However, if I were ever to become a Christian, I would want to be like you, Jeff.” I was blown away! Clay stood up with his glass lifted high and said, “You and I have had many conversations about God and Jesus and stuff. I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like I’m on the edge of a precipice . . .like something is drawing me . . .a power or a light or something like that. Whatever it is, it’s in you. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. I’ve heard it when you talk. I toast to whatever that is.”
Then I raised my glass, “This is an amazing evening. Thank you Jayne! We had a great time tonight eating, drinking, celebrating and laughing. People from all backgrounds who don’t all believe the same thing. Clay, what you’ve experienced in me is Jesus’ Spirit working through me. That’s the reason this party is so good. Only Jesus can make a party this great.” I went on to share that Jesus lived, died and rose again to bring about life of another kind for all of us. “The greatest gift I could ever receive would be to have each of you come to know the love of Jesus personally because he is the greatest gift I have ever received. So, everyone raise your glass. I toast to Jesus Christ!”
Months later, Clay decided to come to our Easter gathering where I shared the good news of Jesus again. This time something changed. He couldn’t tell me what it was right away, but he was different. Later that week he met me in the garden and told me he was changed. He believed the truths about Jesus and he now knew Jesus’ Spirit was in him like it was in me.
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Adapted from a contribution to A Field Guide for Everyday Mission (Ben Connelly and Bob Roberts, Jr: Moody Publishers, 2014). Used by permission of the author. For similar stories and biblical practices of living on mission in our ordinary lives, order the book here, and find more resources at everydaymission.net.
You can also read more about Clay and many other friends who are learning how to be disciples of Jesus in the everyday stuff of life in Jeff’s upcoming book: Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life
