what were your staff and elders wives doing friday night?

The temperature of the leaders always determines the temperature of the Church. Another way to state it would be to say that the culture that is built in the Church Body begins with the culture that is built in the Church Office. But behind every Staff Member is a spouse. And one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that you can tell an awful lot about a potential Staff Member or Elder by spending a little time with their spouse (mostly as a result of listening to my own wife…she’s really smart).

In light of this principle, something happened last week that absolutely blew me away. My wife went down to the Atlanta Dream Center to participate in Princess Night. An incredible ministry opportunity where women actually go and hand out roses to prostitutes and offer to pray for them, all in the hope that one of those prostitutes may take up the offer to come off the street. Unbeknown to her, as she got on the van to travel downtown she found herself surrounded by Staff wives, Elders wives, and other women from North Metro Church. The women on the van ranged from two young expecting mothers to Grandmothers. The last people that I would expect to see on a van headed to down town Atlanta to minister to prostitutes well after dark would be an expecting mother or a grandmother. Yet here they were giving up their Friday evening and leaving the comfort of the suburbs to take the Gospel into the darkness.

The night grew sweeter the longer my wife and those ladies stayed out there on the street. She came home with the incredible news that a girl in her early 20’s who is pregnant and had been prostituting since her early teens came off the street! Those same wives have already come around this young lady to do an incredible baby shower for her and have provided an incredible support network for her. While she may have a long road in front of her, this young lady has women around her who genuinely, fully, tangibly, and truly love and embrace her.

How incredibly cool to be a part of a Church where this is the kind of stuff is going on! A Church that doesn’t just give lip service to the Gospel, but rolls up their sleeves and lives it out, even when it’s uncomfortable. I almost feel spoiled to be a part of something that most guys dream for and live their entire lives hoping to see.