Building a spiritual labor and delivery room

I have a 33-yr.-old son and a 3-yr.-old son. When my oldest son was born, having fathers in the delivery room was rare and it never happened during a C-section. So when he was born I was in the Father’s room watching the Sonny and Cher show on television. When my youngest was born I was there for the whole ordeal.

And it was an ordeal. Lots of pain, and blood, and worries and fears and then…joy! Jesus told Nicodemus that to see the kingdom of God one must be born again! Now, stay with me here, I’m not trying to get too religious or hyperspiritual, but I have seen people enter the kingdom of God in a "spiritual labor and delivery room."

I used to wonder if there were places or people that had an evangelistic anointing, an atmosphere of evangelism surrounding them. Surely Billy Graham and his ‘crusades’ are an example. How many millions have walked down an aisle while a huge choir was singing "Just as I am?"

Occasionally I have attended the Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California on a Sunday evening. Greg Laurie is the pastor. I have seen, week after week, 40-60 people come forward to "see the kingdom." One night, at one of those services, a visiting pastor delivered a sermon taken from the minor prophet Amos. This was one of the most negative messages I have ever heard. As a veteran Christ-follower I didn’t like it and didn’t find anything ‘evangelistic’ about it. But when he gave the altar call, sure enough, 60 or more came forward. This Sunday night service at Harvest has been an evangelistic "labor and delivery room" for over two decades now.

When the church I was pastoring closed and we morphed into a skateboard ministry, it was a while before we experienced an "atmosphere of evangelism." We had some forerunners of what might happen when I delivered my first "skater" altar call in what was our former church building. For most of the summer we had been opening the doors one night a week and allowing young people, with not very much adult supervision, hang out and skateboard on ramps and rails that we put in place of folding chairs and carpets. The unfinished concrete floor made for some great skating!

I had just returned from a missions trip to New Zealand with our Christian punk band. We had some good results and as I shopped at a store in Aukland, a cassette recording of punk music caught my eye. The title of the album was "Skate to Hell." I bought the tape and brought it back with me on the 11-hour flight. When I got to the church that evening I was given a few minutes to talk to the 100 or so kids that had gathered.

I held up the tape and said, "This tape says "Skate to Hell." But let me tell you, there is no place to skate in hell. In heaven, their are streets of gold, and plenty of places to skate. Jesus died so that you could "Skate to Heaven." If you would like to accept his gift, raise your hand right now and then prayer this prayer with me. About 75 out of 100 raised their hands and prayed the prayer with me that evening!

Now, I know that was a pretty simple way of "preaching the gospel" but what happened that evening was the foundation for our "labor and delivery room." Over the coming fall, as we were kicked out of the church building and moved to a ranch on the outskirts of town, I "preached" a simple gospel message week in and week out for many months, and we didn’t see many results.

We served the kids by providing a skate park, food, and a safe place to hang out. We told them that "God was building them this skate park." Week after week I gave a simple altar call and rarely saw any results. About a year later, after the next door neighbor and the city had tried to shut us down, we moved to a bigger location. I took a job in a city 150 miles away.

A youth pastor without a church named Mark began to come and give the altar calls. We were given New Testaments to hand out to kids who "came forward." During the next ten months we gave away about 3000 New Testaments.

When we started the skate ministry and began to serve the kids, we did it because we wanted them to "see the kingdom." It took months of serving and "preaching" and then it seemed that no matter what the occasion, if the opportunity was given, many would respond.

It has been over a year since the skate ministry shut down, but we continue to hear stories of the young men and women whose lives were touched. Building an atmosphere of evangelism, a spiritual "labor and delivery room", takes time. The seeds must be planted, they must be watered, and then God will bring the harvest in due time.