Through the Gate

I have seen the unchurched, the orphaned, the least of these, if you will. I have identified them and can still see their faces pressed through the bars of the gate. Regardless of where you are in your life, whether a pastor, leader, lay-person, or even someone who feels you've completely failed at life, God can use you, and your story to reach the unchurched. God doesn't need your strengths. If you are reading this, thinking that God couldn’t use you to reach the lost, then you are just the one HE can use. In fact, I heard a pastor say recently, "if you graduated top of your class and voted 'most likely to succeed...there's even hope for you!" You see, it is in our weaknesses that “…God’s strength is made perfect…” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV). When you allow God to use you and your shortcomings, He gets all the credit. And quite frankly, God would have it no other way. It's in my weakness that God has my full attention to speak truth and purpose into my life. And, it’s in those moments I hear Him, I respond, and lives are changed!

I write this book realizing that in and of myself I can help no one. I can offer no answers to life’s dilemmas. I offer no strategies, only real-life application. I only know what God has allowed me to see and learn through my own walk. It has not all be easy. In fact, quite the contrary! It more than likely will be the most difficult thing you’ve ever done, to walk with Jesus in this life. So, it is with fear and trembling that I take this journey with you. I will share my thoughts, my heart, and even some personal experiences as we seek to uncover some deliberate steps to reach Through the Gate, and touch the lives of the unchurched world, for His glory!

There I was, the keynote speaker at a student conference where more than 10 island nationalities were represented. The hour came for me to make my grand entrance to the main session where all the students and leaders had gathered, each one anticipating the conference kickoff. As I made my way out of the less-than hospitable living quarters, I walked past the main gate where eight young orphans stood. Picture if you will, their faces pressed partly through the gate's bars, as if imprisoned in a jail cell. The side on which they stood, represented everything Jesus died for, the filth of the world, those "...undone and with unclean lips."(v. 5)

Immediately following the session, I proceeded to the large rusty gate only to find five of the original eight boys still standing...faces still pressing through the bars. As I approached the gate, I observed a thick chain wrapped several times through the gate bars, held secure by a large padlock. By now, my sadness was turning to outright weeping as I came closer to the unwanted boys. I knelt down to look them directly in the eyes. I reached through the gate bars, grabbing the first hand of one of the children, then another, until each dirty, calloused hand was in mine. For some strange reason, they were each eagerly reaching for me as if I had something they wanted. I'm sure they thought I was crazy, because at this point, I'm crying almost uncontrollably. I held their rough little hands for what seemed like an hour. Each one patiently awaiting his/her turn to touch me, shake my hand, and give me the universal "high five". Why were they so eager to touch me? Did they view me as the "man of God" with whom they hoped to connect? I didn’t feel like a “man of God”, but rather a man who chose not to “…speak up for those who have no voice…” (Proverbs 31:8 NLT) when it counted the most. The truth is, it was me who was waiting to touch them, five orphans about to be adopted by Abba Father! I should have fought harder to have them join us inside. Had I failed miserably, or was God doing something bigger than just the one service? I wasn't sure. My spiritual lament for their souls must have been seen by every angel in heaven, I was truly burdened for them to repent and come to know Jesus! For a brief moment, I must have felt a very small part of what Jesus felt when the children were pressing in to touch him. The disciples responded much like the conference leader had responded to me. “Don’t touch the master…”, as if to say, "you’re not worthy to touch Him". But Jesus's response was one of disdain and rebuke. “But Jesus said, ‘let the children come to me and do not hinder them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (Matthew 19:14 NLT). In that moment I was repulsed by the lack of love, compassion, and interest many have for the physically orphaned, or street kids. What happened next, would launch my life on a trajectory to reach the unchurched with an unfailing passion. And I’ve not gotten over it yet!

I continued to share Jesus with them, and gave them the missionary’s signature “sweetie”, a pack of sweet tarts. Then, after a half hour of ministering to them, each one, realizing how important he was is God's sight, smiled and asked Jesus into his life! I had just seen the Glory of the Lord as it filled, not the temple, not the church, not the main session room, not my eloquent words within my 3-point sermon, but in the lives of five young boys...and all through the gate…a locked gate, nonetheless! In fact, had I unlocked a larger gate? A gate to the unchurched world at large? The ones I would spend my life trying to reach. You see, at that moment I, like Isaiah, saw my dirt, my shame, my small mind, my feeble vision, in contrast to the Lord's vastness. As I look back now, it was as if the Lord spoke to me and said, "Who shall I send; will you go for us…for the orphaned, who will reach Through the Gate? To which I responded without a moment’s hesitation, "send me Lord, I will go!"

The side on which I stood, represented the answer to all their life’s questions. The conference center had been situated in one of the foulest neighborhoods in the city, surrounded by large cinderblock walls with broken pieces of glass carefully situated atop the wall, and firmly planted in dried mortar. The scene was reminiscent of a military compound surrounded with rolls of barbed concertina wire, which layered the wall’s crest. Why was the place so fortified? I remember thinking, "What were we protecting?" or, better yet, "what were we being protected from?" Why did we want to keep some people out, and while making others most welcome? The truth revealed that day would forever change my life!

As I made my way past the orphan boys, I rather flippantly asked the conference director, who was escorting me to the conference hall, "What about those kids; What about them...can we let them come into the session too?" I can still hear her simple, yet haunting response, "Well, ‘those kid’s’ can't come in, they are not the kind you would want in here with us...they are street kids". Though I was shocked by her calloused response, I did what any guest speaker would do...nothing! After all, I was her guest, in her country, and was in no place to rebuke her for the brash perception of the lost and undone in her community. I digressed and proceeded to make my way to the main session, still thinking of the boys outside the gate. I preached the message, gave an invitation, and lives were changed...mostly, my own!

In the following pages of this book, I have included 8 simple principles to reach Through the Gate into the lives of the unchurched community, the spiritually orphaned. Let us join the ranks of those great men and women of God who have answered God's call to ministry…Let’s go reach the world!