The "One" in Honolulu

In my last post I talked about Tony Campolo, the energetic and sometimes controversial Christian evangelical sociologist, teacher, and speaker. In worship this weekend I'm going to share what I think is Tony's best story. Quite a while back he had occasion to be at a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii. Unable to sleep the first night there, Tony went to a lonely, run-down diner near his hotel. While there he overhead a conversation between some prostitutes from the streets of Honolulu. One of them announced that the next day was her birthday. Tony heard her mention that she had never had a birthday party. After they left the diner, Tony arranged with the diner owner to throw a party for this woman the next night. Long story short, the prostitutes surprise birthday party became an occasion for Tony to share his faith with folks living far from God, and for someone to see God's grace in action.

Jesus took a lot of flak for the people with whom he would hang out. Bad reputations, "you are known by the company you keep," etc. Jesus response was "...there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance." (Luke 15:7. Actually, if you have a Bible, all of Luke 15 is an important read.) Sound like Jesus would have let everything else go in order to show grace to the Honolulu prostitute.

Consider the following questions:

Given Luke 15:7, who is more important/urgent for God - those already in the Body of Christ, or those outside the Body? If you can't say "both," who is the number one priority?

What would you do to reach the one person living far from God? What would you give up?

What would a church that's fulfilling Luke 15:7 look like? How would we "rejoice over one"?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.