Luke 5

30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

31Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

I was raised in a Christian home.  I was very active in my youth group.  I went to a Christian college, studied ministry, and became a pastor.  While this chain of events has been an invaluable source of knowledge and a firm foundation, it has not been very conducive to meeting “the sick.”

It is for this reason that I’ve been spending a lot of my work hours at coffee shops over the past eight months or so.  Rather than sitting in my home office all day, I wanted to “get out there” and try to meet people who might need to meet Jesus.  It didn’t work out very well.  People go to coffee shops either for quiet alone time or to meet someone specific.  I was getting nowhere.

I shared my frustration with my good friend, Sean, who pastors another group of house churches in our area.  I asked him, “Where do unsaved people go to meet people and talk?”  He said, “Bars.”

That’s probably a “duh” answer.  But remember, I’ve been in the Christian subculture my entire life.  I don’t drink, I’ve never hung out at bars, and that scene is way outside my comfort zone.  But I am sick of not knowing any non-Christians.

So, Sean and I made plans to start barhopping together.  I shared this idea with TreasureField’s leadership team, and they were very supportive.  Matt Rampey asked if he could come along with us sometimes.  (Not to worry, all you good Wesleyans out there: I order Dr. Pepper.)

Sean and I were scheduled to go out this afternoon, but Sean had to cancel.  I called Matt to see if he wanted to come with me instead.  We went to McCarthy’s, a popular local place that happens to be just across the intersection from the Starbucks I used to sit at.  Before we went inside, we prayed.  I asked God to give us just one.

As soon as I saw him sitting alone at the bar, I felt that he was the person we should talk to.  Matt and I took our seats next to him.

For the next two hours, Cade did most of the talking.  He ended up sharing with us all the grimy, gritty details of his life, and admitted that he knew he needed to change; in fact, he wanted to change, but so far had been unable to.  I felt the Spirit nudging me then, and I shared with him that I’d had a time in my life when I hated the way I was and wanted to change, but was powerless to do it until I turned to God.

Cade said that he did believe in God and Jesus, and used to pray all the time.  He said he came to the bar today feeling that he just had to get these things off his chest and hoping he would find someone to talk to about trying to get his life back on track.  I told him, “Well, today’s your lucky day!”

When he heard that we had gone to the bar today specifically to find someone who needed to learn about God, he could hardly contain his excitement:  “Dude, I am trippin’ right now!”

We talked some more and, at his request, exchanged phone numbers.  Before we left, we asked him if he’d like to go outside with us so we could pray.  We prayed together; then he hugged us and told us urgently, “I need you guys to call me.”

He is interested in coming to one of our TreasureField groups to learn more about Jesus–and he asked if he can bring a friend.  As Cade put it, “He really needs to hear this stuff.”

After today, I am wishing I hadn’t wasted the last eight months at Starbucks.  Now I know that there is a place where lost and hurting people go specifically to find someone to talk to.  Talk about a ripe harvest field!  We are so excited about the possibilities.  And I feel like I am being more Christlike than I was before.  Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Cade just called and said, “I feel like God just reached down and touched me today.”  I’m so thankful to be a part of what He’s doing!  Thank you for your prayers and support… they’re making a difference in this harvest field.

Feel free to comment and leave a note for Cade.  I’ll pass it along.