...a quick manual by Ted Bruun
I was in the car with Ted Bruun, the organizer of the Extreme Tour, which is going on right now and traversing the USA. It's a series of free shows by bands that have a heart for making a positive impact. It's pretty much a short-term missions trip for bands, because most of the time they don't get paid anything (save for the merch they sell). So, Ted and his buds were gracious enough to offer me a ride to the airport in Nashville last week and Ted started sharing with me how the tour was going (He also mentioned a fascinating new book called Righteous, that I must check out).
He was telling me about a conversation he had where he answered the question about "How do you minister to these street kids?" Maybe it was a conversation with the author of that book, who travelled with the tour in preparation for her book... Here's basically what he had to say (that I can remember):
1. We start serving them. We reach out to them with our actions. We show them that we love them.
2. Then, after we've shown them we love them, they usually ask, "Why are you doing this?" When we tell them, "Because I love you," they freak out, because the last person that told them that abused them, you know?
3. Then they try to push you away to "prove" that you don't love them.
4. Then, when they've exhausted their attempts to get you to stop loving them, they accept it. At that point, they usually believe.
Wow. I wish I could remember this discourse more clearly! My first impression was, 'Wow! He hit the nail on the head!' That's a perfect description of how "it" often works, huh?
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 1, 2008 09:06 AM