Ambassadors for Christ

Today I had lunch with one of the Grace elders and trustee Fred Blake. Over the past few years Fred and I have made somewhat regular trips for lunch out at the Brookwood Community.  If you don’t know about Brookwood stop reading right now and check out this link:  The Brookwood Community.

Okay now that you have the picture let me tell you about today.  Whenever Fred and I go to Brookwood we have lunch with Wilson, a Brookwood citizen whose grandmother founded the place and whose mom now heads the ministry.  We will meet Wilson and his dad Neal in the café and it is always an entertaining and uplifting lunch.

Today was a little sad because Wilson had learned that I am “retiring” to Alabama and he was very concerned about who is going to preach and more importantly make the announcements at Grace.

After lunch as we were saying goodbye Neal prompted Wilson to go ahead and ask me a question (actually a request) that obviously they had been discussing.  Wilson very loudly and boldly asked me if he could be “promoted” and become an Ambassador of Grace to Brookwood.

I told him that since Fred was an elder and I’m the pastor we could do that right now!  Fred and I laid hands on Wilson and prayed that God would use him as an Ambassador for Christ and of Grace Presbyterian Church to the Brookwood Community (tonight the Grace Session made that “official” with a resolution).

When we finished I reminded Wilson that Fred would be checking up on him and that it was his responsibility to share the love and the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone at Brookwood.  Wilson said he would and then asked me if he could now preach on Christmas Eve!  (I encouraged him to let the pastors preach but perhaps he could hold a candle).

I hardly needed to give Wilson that reminder.  Each and every day he and the other citizens of Brookwood, as well as the staff that serve there, are shining stars for Jesus Christ.  Their lives and the love are reflections of His life and love as they share with one another generously and even sacrificially.

God gave me a precious gift today as Wilson humbly bowed his head and allowed Fred and I to lay our hands on his shoulders and pray that God would use him as His ambassador.  What a great reminder of the humility with which we should accept God’s call upon all of us to serve as Ambassadors for Christ.