Some years ago, my pastor, Dr. Guys Sanders III, used a phrase I had not previously heard. The phrase is "American Pagan". This was his description of many in America today who have no real knowledge of the Bible, no real knowledge of Almighty God and no real knowledge of Jesus Christ. Of course, we run into these people all the time as we minister in and around New Port Richey, as they come to our campus, and we go to their circles of home, work and third place. However, I had not had an experience with someone quite like the one I had Sunday morning, June 13th.
We were in the midst of the worship service, and I was finishing my responsibilities and preparing for the drive to Orlando for the 2010 Pastor's Conference and the Southern Baptist Convention. Our music minister's wife brought a lady over to meet me. We will call her Carol. Carol told me that she had a 13 year old daughter (we will call her Elizabeth) and a 6 year old daughter (who we will call Lilly). She proceeded to tell me that her family spent very little time in church. She told me that her husband was Catholic, but she was not, so they never even went there. Elizabeth had not wanted to come, so she was not at church that morning, but she had brought Lilly.
In the lobby of our church is a large, stained glass cross. As they walked into the church that morning, Lilly exclaimed, "Look at that large letter T. I can make a T also." Lilly then made the letter T with her arms. Carol told me that in addition to that, Lilly had no idea what a Bible was or who Jesus was.
That, my friends, is an American Pagan. Now, please understand I mean no disrespect towards this family. However, this phrase accurately describes them.
On our way to Orlando, my 6 year old (we will call her Emma, because that is her name) said, "Daddy, we had a new girl in our class today!" Guess who it was -- it was Lilly. I explained to Emma how I met her mother, and how Lilly did not know Jesus.
The rest of the week as I was at the SBC, this family was on my heart and mind. It is a family that is lost and needs Jesus. As a Southern Baptist Convention, we just passed the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR). We talked much of lostness around us and all over the world. We talked of being Gospel-centered people. We talked of giving up comforts to reach the un-reached.
We must remember that most of the time they are not going to walk into our churches and say, "I don't know anything about Jesus." The story of Carol and Lilly is unique. They will not be coming to us. We must go to them. Whether it is in our neighborhoods, or it is in the jungles of the South Pacific, we must be willing to go and share the love of Jesus with them.
While it is true that the U.S.A. is the most churched nation in the world, we still have much work to do. There are still many around us who do not know Jesus. But we cannot neglect the nations. We must reach them with the Gospel. We must do all that we can to get there.
Whether we go to New York or India, Florida or Nigeria, California or Peru, whether for business, pleasure or ministry, we must be going with the intent to share Jesus with all that we possibly can.
That is the call of the Great Commission.
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