Rapture Story From Long Ago

Well, I'm off the bike and the roads looked about like normal. So, maybe the time zone was the problem.

As promised, here's a rapture story from long ago.

After a couple of years in the ministry in South Georgia, I had a lot of contact from other churches but the ones that wanted me did not interest me and the ones I was interested in were not interested in me. It's very much like high school and college dating.

After about 5 years in Georgia (we stayed ten) the University Baptist Church of Coral Gables, FL showed a lot of interest. The church was very close to the old Orange Bowl and the University of Miami. My strength at that time was working with youth and young adults so those factors contributed to my interest in that church. According to the chairman they were very impressed with my focus on youth, young adults, and broken families-- getting divorced people back in church, etc. which in those days was not an easy task.

They came to hear me preach a couple of times and pursued me hard enough that I flew down and spoke in a neutral church so a larger number of their key people could hear me, etc. I met a couple of times with the Pastor Selection Committe and I talked at length with the chairman and we hit it off real well. I was beginning to get very interested as was Marth except it was even further from our roots-- little did she or I know that a few years later we'd be moving to CA.

Anyway, we were getting down to crunch time and I flew back down for another preaching engagement and a full afternoon of talking with the ten members of the pastor selection committee. This is the time when they throw numerous questions at you about everything imaginable-- Biblically, theologically, and a lot of personal stuff-- exactly (except for content) like a job interview for an executive position.

The meeting had gone extremely well with some very serious stuff and some humor-- it was me, right! (And you also need to remember that in those days, I could sometimes be a smart-ass and as I'm now much older, I'm even worse.) Near the end of the meeting one of the committee members said, "There's an area we haven't covered. What is your position on The Second Coming?" My reply right off the cuff was, "I'm for it." Several members laughed and the chairman said, "I like that."

But the guy wasn't amused and retored, "What do you mean by that?" I said, "Well, I just believe that the one who started this whole thing can stop it anytime and it's fine with me." Looking stunned and strained, he replied with a slightly raised voice "But I want to know your position-- do you believe in pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, or a-millennialism." His tone didn't sit well with me to say the least. And the chairman could tell it, and he was squirming and trying to turn the ship and he said, "I think I'm for it, too." Others members laughed a one or two said, that's a tough subject so his reply sounds good to me, too.

The guy was not finished and he said, "What do you preach about the second comng?" Now, I really got smart-assed. "Well I haven't gotten around to preaching on the Second Coming, yet, not sure I ever will." He replied, "Why!" And I lite into him with a little arrogance to test is knowledge. "Well, I do a lot of preaching on ellipis, pistis, and agape and very little on eschatology and teleology." I got the reply I wanted, "What does all that mean?" I said, "That translates faith, hope, and love. That's what I preach on. I'm a lot more interested in the nasty hear and now than I am the sweet bye and bye. Furthemore, I've never had a church member to come to my office asking about the rapture, or the end of time, or my beliefs on such. What I do have coming to my office are people dealing with their kids on drugs, their spouses wanting a divorce, their grief over the loss of a loved one, the guilt over cheating in their marriages, and others trying to figure out what to do with their lives. So that being what my congregation is living with, that's what I preach on." The chairman said "I like that." And the others did also. The meeting closed and I flew back to Georgia.

Later that night, I got a call from the chairman, who said, "I am heart sick. Nine members of our committee is 100% in favor of offering you "a call." There's only one problem, we have a rule that we will not call anyone without 100% of our members being in favor. And the guy you would expect voted against you." I said, "Well, Mr. chairman, in my humble opinion, your first mistake was having that 100% rule. But don't let it bother you, if he was that upset with my answers about the Second Coming, he would really be upset with me after about a month or two. So, it's better that we nip this in the bud."

And that was the end of the possibility of us moving to Miami, FL somewhere around 1974. Five years later, we moved to Burlingame, CA for eight terrific years.

If you stayed with me through this whole thing, I thank you. If you didn't I don't blame you!


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