I Decided to Know

No one should have witnessed as much in the church as I did at such an early age. Don't misunderstand my statement. It wasn't entirely negative, but it wasn't entirely positive either. From serving as an administrator at the tender of age 14 to years later in my collegiate experience watching evangelists whisper their phone numbers in women's ears pretending to prophecy a "word from God", I think I can safely say that I've seen it all; and if it's not all, it's enough to understand that ignorance is not bliss and that one must literally watch and pray.

From authentic to not so authentic, God has privileged me to experience a wide spectrum and array of the wonderful colors of Christendom. I've seen true-blue and ugly red, I've witnessed the power of God, and the empty fallacious, babblings of the high-minded scholar and the illogical and indiscernible rantings of the chaotically charismatic.

Fortunately, through the power and grace of God I was able to maintain integrity, sanity, and soundness of mind and allow these invaluable experiences to broaden my scope and expand my horizons. There were times when I was so angry at what I was witnessing that my vision narrowed and I almost fell prey to being consumed by internal indignation. It's the kind of anger that points out what everyone else is doing and issues you a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. What it forced me to do was to be candid and honest with myself as it relates to why I was preaching.

Was it to be considered among the scholarly elite? Was it to be among the spiritual gifted elite?

It was through the inevitable vicissitudes of life that I found myself enrolled in the University of Perfection, where God the Father is Chancellor, Jesus is President, and the Holy Spirit is Teacher that I began to learn about what it truly means to be an ambassador of Christ with respect to handling issues in the church.

It was at this time that I began to formulate my personal philosophy of ministry based on this verse, "For I decided to know nothing (emphasis mine) among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV)

I don't want to purport the idea that I'm heavenly bound and no earthly good, however, it was crucial and vital while in the infancy of my preaching ministry that I grasp the concept of who I was and whose I was, and what and who I was preaching for.

I'm well aware that in this passage Paul is defending his manner of preaching and in a sense, ultimately, his apostolic authority. So forgive me if I am somewhat "principilizing" the text (with due deference to the context) to make the point that when I preach, pray, sing, play, or whatever, I am doing my best to only be concerned that people know Jesus.