No Plan B

In the church that I was raised, each year we invited a ministry team to come to our congregation and lead worship for our youth and young adults. Lutheran Youth Encounter sent out worship teams to different regions and countries all over the world. Captive Free East Lakes was the team that would visit us in Bemus Point, NY.

As I neared the end of high school, I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to go to college. It seemed most logical for me to apply to serve with Youth Encounter right out of high school. I applied, auditioned, and was accepted to join their ministry starting in August of 2006 and ending a year later.

August 2006 rolled around and I met the 5 other people I would be sharing life with for the next year. Each of us were from all around the world. Taryn, our drummer hailed from Arizona. Koral, the lead singer is from the coast of Oregon. Our lead guitar player, Andrew is from Georgia. Chrissy, our sound engineer is from Illinois. And last but not least, Jamie, our rhythm and lead male vocal was from Australia. Together we were Captive Free North East.

One time, while we were on the road we were staying at a church in Long Island, NY. When we woke up that morning to begin our trek to our next booking, we discovered a really bad ice storm had developed and was creating hazardous traveling conditions. We were scheduled to go up into upstate NY for a youth event that evening. They called us and told us NOT to come because the storm had dumped on them first, so they canceled their event for that evening. Our next booking was somewhere else in upstate, but it was just a housing stop (no event). We called them and they also said not to head that direction either. We knew the third booking was down in Maryland. We called them and asked if we could head their a few days early. We had been there earlier in our tour and had already established a relationship with them. They welcomed us warmly and told us to take it slow and safely. Our trip would be much longer due to the weather and it was much further away that our original stop.

We hitched up our trailer of music equipment and headed out on our way.

One more detail… it was at this point we decided that we should inform our central office (located in St. Paul, Minnesota) that we would be changing plans. They didn’t like our plan AT ALL! They insisted that we stay in Long Island and wait it out.

In retrospect, if we had stayed, we would have been stranded there for many more days which would have cost us more bookings.

We had no other choice but to disobey our central office and go ahead with our original plan. We had no plan B.

It was time to begin our trek. Just as we pull out onto the icy road with our 15 passenger van with a two axle trailer filled with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of sound and lighting equipment, our trailer bounces right off the tow hitch because the ball catch was so iced over that it didn’t grab the hitch. Now we’re in the middle of traffic on a 4-lane city street in an ice storm with our trailer grounded. The pastor comes running out and directs traffic around our van while Jamie and I rush to break up the ice and hitch up the trailer. Great start!

We’re finally on our way heading down the major interstate-highways at 30-35mph. Just like everyone else. As we continued on our way, we decided to keep the main office up to date even in our disobedience. Taking it nice and slowly with Jamie the Australian driving and me in the navigator’s seat. Somehow, I ended up being the best at reading maps so I would plan out our entire route every time we traveled. We had been seriously burned by Mapquest before and lost our faith in its reliability. Also, vehicle GPS’s were still pretty new and quite expensive for a team of teenagers and twenty-somethings playing for donations.

Back in August we had been given responsibilities so that all the workings of our daily lives would be taken care of. Another baffling reality is that I had been given the responsibility of vehicle maintenance. If you know me, you know that I am by no stretch of the imagination a “car guy”. I put gas in, the vehicle goes. The dummy light comes on, I get the oil changed. That is the extent of my understanding of vehicles. I’m am not ashamed. But alas, I was tasked with keeping the van and trailer running and safe. I tell you all of this to explain how I got into this next mess.

While Jamie was driving and I was planning our next turn, I get a tap on the shoulder from Andrew who said that I probably need to come into the back and check something out. I get him up to speed on our route and jump into the back to find Koral breathing heavy with a look of muted terror on her face. She of course was all the way in the back bench. As I climb all the way in back, Taryn informs me that Koral cannot get out of her seat. She was buckled in and her seatbelt wasn’t releasing. In her panic, she had pulled the entire length of the shoulder strap out and then proceeded to let it all wind back up. This engaged the child safety lock which wouldn’t allow the seatbelt to be pulled back out. She had literally bound herself to her seat and pulled it tight.

I messed around with the buckle for awhile and then I had to call our vehicle maintenance supervisor at the main office and explain the situation. Koral is panicking and wimpering next to me and when he hears what has happened to her he starts to laugh. Koral, hearing him laugh over the cell phone then explodes into tears because she doesn’t really see the humor of the situation. He instructs me to keep trying for a few minutes (just for the sake of protocol) before cutting the belt. I get some scissors from Chrissy, who always had everything when you needed it. I dive under the seat and cut the belt and free Koral from her (self-inflicted) bondage.

Long story short we made it to our Maryland booking in the middle of the night and everyone was safe. Our plan worked.

Fun fact: Fast forward to the next August at debriefing. The vehicle team was going over our van and found out why her buckle wouldn’t disengage. There was a quarter stuck in the latch. That quarter was an Oregon State Quarter.

I tell you all that because we had a problem. Our problem was that if we had stayed where we were, we would have been stranded for an unknown amount of time, we would have lost many needed opportunities for financial support, and we wouldn’t have been able to bring the gospel to the youth that we had been expected to share it with. We looked at our options and found that we had only one. We went against what others were saying because we had a mission and we were bound to it.

Similarly, the world has a problem. That is the problem of Sin. And if we stay where we are as individuals, as families, and as the Church we nearly guarantee that we will become stranded in our faith which prevents the Good news from being declared in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

As a Christian we have one job. It is to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations.

What if the church was actively and readily engaged in preaching the gospel and making disciples? What if that job wasn’t just reserved for the five-fold ministry, Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher? What if it is the responsibility of every Christian to preach the gospel and make disciples?

Do you know the gospel? Can you clearly explain that everyone was created to be in relationship with God, but sin separated us from Him? Can you describe that no good deed can bring us into relationship with Him and that it requires the shedding of blood to pay the debt of sin? Can you tell someone that Jesus lived and died a sinless life and took the wages of sin on our behalf? After He died, on the third day He rose again and defeated the grave forever. Relationship with the Father, which we were created to have, comes when we simply receive the truth of Jesus victory and place our faith in Him. It begins now. Not tomorrow, not next Sunday, Now Is the Day of salvation! (2 Cor. 6:2)

The late Evangelist Reinhart Bonnke said, “An unpreached gospel is no gospel at all.” (Evangelism By Fire; 1989) The Gospel is good news to those who hear it, but it cannot be good news if it is not declared to all people.

Our silence with the Gospel is almost always because Fear has taken root in our lives. Maybe we have allowed the voice of fear to speak louder than the voice of God in our lives. Although we were safe in our van going down the highway Koral managed to put herself into bondage. Fear gripped her and she made decisions rooted in fear that caused her to be bound where she was. We have spent enough time listening to the voice of the enemy tell us that we aren’t really worthy or capable to declare the gospel to the nations and instead listen to the voice of the Father who says, “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.” -Isaiah 42:6 and Jesus who says, “You are the light of the world.” – Matthew 5:14

Pastor Cameron Lienhart preached a sermon recently where he said, “The church is God’s Plan A to both incarnate and proclaim that there is life in Jesus.” Many preachers and teachers have said things along these same lines and it holds true. Jesus entrusted the gospel to ordinary men who were so transformed by the reality of that good news that it compelled them to tell the world about it. Jesus told those men before he rose into heaven, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

Have you been transformed by the gospel? Have you experienced the presence and intimacy of the Father through the Holy Spirit? Have you been made into a new creation? Have you been forgiven of your sins by the blood of Jesus on Calvary? Have you been born again? It is the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that now makes His home in the heart of the Christian. Fear cannot take root in the heart of the one who has given it all to Jesus.

Jesus has given us the plan. Live the gospel and preach the gospel. There is no other plan. You are God’s Plan A. He has chosen you before the foundations of the world (Eph 1).

Know the gospel, Live the gospel, and preach the gospel.

Brice Eugene