intersections

Stories of Failure

My friend Yaroslav, who lives in Moscow and was our patient and attentive host while we were in Moscow last October, recently entered a context for the most embarrassing outreach stories. His short story was chosen as one of the winners. Congrats, Yaroslav, on being one of the biggest losers! (Sorry, American TV show humor - I'll explain later). Here is an excerpt...

I was on an outreach errand with a fellow believer, doing colporteur evangelism (carrying literature) in an apartment house. We had sold several Bibles and Christian books. All was going great. At the following door, we rang the bell. After several minutes of waiting, we heard someone approach the door quietly and then retreat. We rang the bell once more. Nothing.
We looked at each other for a moment, and then it hit us!

You can read the whole thing here, along with the other winners.

This reminds me so much of something profound we did at the re-church conference in 2002 entitled, Loving Babylon, in which we invited several pastors to come up to the front and tell their stories of failure. At most pastor's conference I've ever been to, tremendous success stories are told. We wanted to share our weakness. At the end we were blessed by an amazing prayer of an unbeliever. You can read that story in Samir Selmanovics forthcoming book, It's Really All About God.

Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pastors

Here it is...the next installment from the people at Florida Hospital Church that brought you "Before He Speaks."

I realize I post this at my own expense! *sigh*
But who can deny this is hilarious?