A Moment With Mullins

Who's that man?  He thinks he's a prophet

I wonder if he's got something up his sleeve...

Where's he from?  Who is his daddy?

There's rumors he even thinks himself a king...

Of a kingdom of paupers, simpletons and rogues

The whores all seem to love him and the drunks propose a toast

And they say surely God is with us...today.

This weekend in Nashville Youth Specialties will be holding another of its National Youth Workers Conventions (NYWC).  If you have followed this blog or know me at all then you know how important the NYWC was to me, both in my spiritual journey and in my professional life as a youth pastor.  It is among the things I miss tremendously since my sin cost me my ministry in 2007.  There will be more of my friends in Nashville this weekend than I can possibly mention, but I pray that they will have the same type of experiences I did every time I attended the NYWC.

I never encountered Rich Mullins at the NYWC, but his spirit was always alive and well at the event.  The YS staff through the years- people like Tic Long, Wayne Rice, Mark Oestricher and the late Mike Yaconelli (Yac)- were all people who helped expand Rich's teachings in my life on the radical nature of Jesus Christ.  They didn't see denominations or doctrine or divisions- they saw Jesus.  They didn't see failure, they saw grace.  The worship in the general sessions of the convention was always powerful.  If growing up Quaker taught me to appreciate silence, pacifism and prayer, the NYWC taught me to appreciate and love emotional worship.  I found that I could express my faith by worshipping in silence and by lifting my hands to a Chris Tomlin anthem.  I always left those worship times with the knowledge that "surely God was with us in that place."

I have said before that Yac and Rich were birds of a feather, just oozing grace and the love of Christ everywhere they went.  Yet they were very different.  Rich was soft spoken and very laid back.  Yac was a wild man, often loud and boisterous.  They both fit the descriptions of Jesus found in Rich's song Surely God Is With Us. You can hear it in the description of Jesus found in the lyrics at the top, and in these words:  "Who can move a mountain, who can love their enemy; who can rejoice in pain and turn the other cheek?"  Both of those men had that kind of faith.  They were imperfect sinners (as are we all) who fully grasped the unyielding grace of God and the radical nature of Christ.  To have spent time in their presence is a blessing I will never forget.  Both are with Jesus now, and I have no doubt He greeted them with open arms- and in Yac's case, a big WHOO-HOO!

Today is the last of my regular posts featuring Rich Mullins; I am certain he will make more appearances somewhere down the road.  As for Mike Yaconelli, Youth Specialties and the NYWC, I will spend the next few days sharing some of my favorite memories of my 18 conventions.  Come along for the ride!

This recording is from The Jesus Record demo's.  It is Rich and his guitar recorded with a hand-held tape recorder just weeks before his death in 1997. The song speaks of the radical nature of Christ and how hard it must have been for those around Him to understand his message.  Jesus was always an "outsider" to the established church of His day- and so were Rich and Yac.  The picture is of Tim Vestal, myself,  Yac, Jerry Hanbery and Ray Luther at the NYCW in Anaheim in 1996.  Enjoy.