A History Lesson On an Elevator

Ok yesterday I had one response to my blog and while it was thoughtful I was reminded that words on a screen do not always convey the experience. I had said my wife, i.e. Kim told me, “I needed to get in the real world!” when talking about people cussing. In no way does she condone or think it is great. She like most of us has the “Up Tight” degree. I still remember Frank conveying this story to me. Twenty-five years after graduating from Long Beach State, with a degree in “Up Tightness,” he saw and heard the impact of the filthy speech decade up close and personal. He was on an elevator in a Denver high-rise apartment building when a young lady, who was furiously searching in her purse for car keys, stepped into the elevator. Realizing that she had left her keys in her apartment she uttered the F word in an Eastern European accent,

There were just the two of them on the elevator. She looked at him, and he must have had a pained expression on his face, because she said something to him he will never forget, “I am sorry,” she said, “I would never say that word in my language, but this is America!” She is a European Muslim and she was just trying to fit in. A while later he talked with her again, and she again apologized. Then she told him that the first English phrases friends back home had taught her were laced with vulgar profanities. They told her that these are not nice words, but it is the way everyone in America talks. Vulgarity in America has been tamed and mainstreamed. There are few social circles where there are any taboo words left.

In the 21st century we have enormous resources in our churches, the greatest of which are the nobodies who sit in the pews. Thousand have already been equipped by life to be “front-line” ministers. Most suburban church members can read, many are professionals, and some have spare bedrooms and healthy family lives. They could provide an ideal refuge for a woman experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

The nobodies represent a wide variety of skills; there are mechanics, accountants, doctors, financial planners, cooks, and cops. They are far more equipped for meaningful ministry than they realize. But little of significance will come out of all our ministry potential if there is no passion. Somehow we must figure out how to create church environments where passion in the pew is possible.

We live at a period of history when our government is begging churches to re-engage the poor. Plus we have the resources in our churches to do just that. What community ministries need most is for church leaders to value those involved in ministries outside the walls. We have enough firepower among the nobodies to make a huge impact in every major crises area that our nation is facing. That includes the two million people behind bars and forty two million plus without health insurance.


Of note the only Christian book on social issues in the top ten in 2010 was "The hole in the Gospel." Whew almost a clean sweep. Check it out. The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? Richard Stearns (Thomas Nelson). While I am not a huge fan of the book theologically (By that I mean that it is not too deep, not that it is in error.) it is right in purpose.