10/25/2009: "I Sorta Got One Foot In and One Foot Out"

It was a hot August day and we were holding a HUG Cookout in a local McDonough neighborhood of duplexes and quadruplexes known as Toby Springs. The volunteers had just gotten set-up and started cooking when a man we will call Clyde, approaches.

A volunteer welcomes Clyde to the event and offers him food. Clyde explains he had somewhere to be and asks for a couple of bags of chips. The volunteer directs Clyde to the food. Another volunteer, being nearby, happens to hear the exchange and approaches Clyde and asks “Do you know why we are here?” Clyde replies that he does not. The volunteer explains that we were there to demonstrate God's love and that the food and other items provided were provided by God, He just used the HUG Cookout: Toby Springs Lane, McDonough, Georgia volunteers to deliver it. Clyde thanks the volunteer and begins to head off when the volunteer asks “Clyde, are you are Christian?"

“I sorta got one foot in and one foot out” replies Clyde. Hearing this the volunteer summons a pastor and asks Clyde to repeat his response.

Hearing Clyde's response, the pastor explains “Clyde, we don't look at things that way. We believe that you are either a Christian or you are not. If you have ever accepted Christ as your Lord, your are a Christian. Do you believe in God? Do you believe that Jesus was the son of God and died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and that he was resurrected three days later?” Clyde indicated he believed all of these things. “Then why do you feel you are not a Christian?” the pastor asked.

“I don't go to church and I don't do exactly like I should”, Clyde explained. “Things aren't quite that way”, the pastor responded before asking “Do you have any children?” Clyde indicated he did.

The pastor asked: “If your child went out and did something really terrible tomorrow would he still be your child?” “Yes”, said Clyde. “It is the same way with God. Once you become his child you are always his child regardless of how badly you behave. God may not like the things you do and he may punish you, but you are still his child. There is nothing you can do to change that” the pastor said.

The volunteer added ”Going to church has nothing to do with it. Tithing has nothing to do with it. Of course, you should fellowship with other Christians and you should give to your church and help others. But, you are still a child of God if you do them or not. So, Clyde, are you a Christian?” “Yes!”, Clyde exclaimed with a big smile on his face, then went off to enjoy a hot dog.

At that moment the volunteer noticed a woman guest walking by. “Are you a Christian?”, the volunteer asked. “I don't know”, the woman replied.

Follow-up: Clyde later helped our church and its Celebrate Recovery and Local Out-Team ministries serve at Impact Fulton.

More pictures of this and other Small Group projects can be viewed in our Picture Gallery.