Shame

I'm going to tell you something that I'm kind of ashamed of. Tonight I went to see one of CCM's biggest stars in concert. Steven Curtis Chapman played at the Coliseum with Chris Tomlin and Casting Crowns. The family of one of the students from our youth group put on all the major Christian concerts and every so often they hook us up with some embarrassingly good seats in the awkward front row. I could talk critically about so many different things that happened tonight and thoughts that rush through my head in the midst of a "worship performance" or about how I actually believe that Casting Crowns is doing the music just to get a chance to help youth pastors, but I've decided to talk about something else. Something somewhat hopeful.

If you've ever been to a big CCM concert you've probably heard or seen an emotional appeal for concert goers to participate in sponsoring a child in Africa. I was all ready for another push like that, when Steven Curtis Chapman started to tell us a story about how as he and his wife reached their forties they were looking forward to moving into a life together as a couple again when God started to work on their hearts about children throughout the world who were hurting and alone. On one trip to China he went into an orphanage and encountered a child who was so depressed that the image of the girls face wouldn't leave him. Later that day he was praying about it and felt as if Jesus was saying to him, "you went to an orphanage and you found Me. What are you going to do?" In the past 6 years the Chapman family adopted 3 orphans from China.

Now SCC didn't hesitate to ask for money, but it was interesting because for the first time I heard a Christian artist ask people to partner with him in something that he ACTUALLY did that truly changed the way they lived. SCC has helped create an organization called Shaohannah's Hope (named after their first adopted daughter) that will take the money donated monthly to help people with the financial burdens that often stand in the way of people who would like to adopt.

The kicker was this. After asking for a financial partnership he stood up in front of the audience and said, "Some of you need to think about adopting a child. James 1.27 says that pure religion is looking after orphans and widows, and so many of us have the financial resources to adopt children who need a family to love them." This guy didn't just ask people for $20 a month, he ACTUALLY CHALLENGED 10,000 CHRISTIANS TO DO SOMETHING WITH THEIR LIVES!

Now I'm not sucker enough to believe that we're on the right path, but I believe that SCC might be onto something. What if some people at the concerts actually started to take the idea of adoption seriously? I mean maybe that would be the Great Adventure. (sorry for the lame ending, but I can't get his beautiful brand of Christian pop out of my tortured head)

posted by Anonymous @ 11:27 PM