Winning the Right to be Heard

"We must win the right to be heard...Friendship Evangelism...Incarnational Evangelism...face to face...person to person...friend to friend...and finally heart to heart. Putting flesh and bone on the Message." - Jim Rayburn 

I got a little snapshot of that in Scott Brown's living room this past Monday night. Over the course of this last semester I've had the privilege of leading alongside one of our student staff guys, Cody Sanders, an Ole Miss senior and team leader at Oxford High School.

I sat at OHS club this past Monday night and listened to Cody tell the story of the Cross. He did a great job communicating, but you could tell he was nervous. How could you not be? A hot, crowded living room full of high school kids, and Cody was tasked with the job of trying to communicate the greatest love story the world has ever known.

But the shakiness in his voice and the awkwardness of trying to flip a page on his note pad while balancing a Bible in his hand was ... just beautiful. Because it was sincere. And every kid was leaned in, listening to Cody proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that was exactly how Jesus intended for them to hear it. A jar of clay pouring out living water. 

As I looked around, something profound captured my attention. No one was talking. They were all listening. Every heart seemed to be hanging on every word. They were dialed in. And I realized why. It's because Cody had credibility with nearly every kid in the room. He has spent the last 3 years just simply showing up. Showing up to pass out donuts before school, to watch baseball games after school, to cheer kids on at track practice, to sit with kids at lunch, to talk life with guys over dinner. He's learned their names, and prayed for them by name and chased after them when they wanted nothing to do with God. He has labored and he has earned the right to be heard. So when he stood up in front of them and described the beautiful, scandalous account of how Jesus died for them ... they wanted to hear what he had to say. And that message is the very power of God. It raises the dead to life again.

I was proud to be in the room. I was proud to know Cody. It was Young Life in it's purest form; it felt exactly like what Jim Rayburn had in mind.

Cody (bottom left) with co-leader Connor (mailman) and their Campaigner guys

My friend Eve Sarrett once told me, "I've never met anybody who loves Jesus, who wasn't first loved by somebody who loves Jesus."

Cody is graduating and moving to Georgia this summer. His season in Oxford is ending, but his investment here will last forever... on into eternity. Many of these guys have come to know Jesus over the past couple years. And it's because they were known and loved by somebody who knows and loves Jesus. Well done good and faithful servant.