We are our own worst enemies
Several things are stirring in my mind that lead to the title of this post. The first two are news reports that came out this week.
The first is out of Nelson County KY where a 13 year-old died in a car crash because his youth minister let him drive his car. Click here for full report. The only response I have is what was he thinking? And while he is not a Baptist youth minister I am sure there are some of us that have done similar if not the same sort of thing.
The second is from the Leaf Chronicle in Clarksville TN where a youth minister had inappropriate relations with 3 teen girls in his youth ministry. Again the only response I have is, what was he thinking?
These are not isolated cases, and stories like this are in the news way too much. They will be sensationalized on every news media in the area and we will get a well deserved black eye for the actions of a couple of individuals. These two events should make us angry, embarrassed and call us to pray for the families of all parties involved.
The third is a reflection of the events surrounding the SBC that met in Louisville earlier this week. And it has absolutely nothing to do with motions, or direction or visions or votes. But it has everything to do with what happened after we left the meetings. The reports of how we behaved in Louisville restaurants are appalling. SBC Messengers (with tags still around their neck so there wasn't any doubt) STIFFING the wait staff and leaving no tips. Some wait staff at restaurant asking to be taking off the schedule until "the Baptist" leave town and saying, "they hoped they (the Baptist) never came back to Louisville and that they would never go to a Baptist church if that was the way Baptist acted". There was even a report of one group who stayed at a restaurant for over an hour, had a meal and dessert and then didn't want to pay full price for their meal or leave a tip because they were offended at the shortness of the waitress’s skirt. Where was the offense when she first started waiting on you?
Similar complaints were heard by hotel staff.
And while we were busy leaving and eating there, who was left to clean up the mounds of liter we threw all over the floors and the parking lots at the Exposition Center? It was amazing to watch one young man, a convention attendee, consistently go behind other convention attendees and pick up the paper and trash they would drop. When ask about it his reply was a simple "The employees here all know we are Christian’s right? So shouldn't we leave this place better than we found it"?
And maybe that should have been our mantra for the Convention. Let’s LOVE out LOUD, and while we're at it, let's leave Louisville a better place than we found it.
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posted by: Joe Ball on June 25th, 2009
