MINISTERIALLY SPEAKING

By Kendall Franklin

My Uncle Earl is one tough hombre! Born with a few handicaps, he nonetheless was larger than life in this nephew’s eyes. Even with a withered hand, he drove a semi-truck and trailer. His crippled leg did not prevent him from any of his jobs, no matter how demanding or physical.

Now in his sixties, my uncle changed jobs and went to work for Southwest Restoration & Recovery. Sounds so positive, doesn’t it? Recovery is probably the key word in the name. Why? Because it was a repossession service. That’s right…my tough uncle was a RE-PO man. (For those of you who are not familiar with the vernacular, he worked for a company that repossessed vehicles, furniture, and other large, costly items that were financed with credit arrangements.) When payments were not made and arrangements not satisfied, my uncle would have the task of “repossessing” the items. He has hundreds of stories of people getting violent, rude, peculiar, and even threatening when he came for their stuff. I won’t mention the people who resorted to weapons.

When I moved to Cimarron, Kansas to pastor the church there in the fall of 1990, my uncle was delighted. He lived just 20 miles east of us. Just after we arrived in our new pastoral assignment, Uncle Earl dropped by the parsonage and asked if I wanted to “run an errand with him.” We were still new, and did not know the members of the church very well, much less the townsfolk of the community of 1800 people.
I was glad to be with him and so I hopped into his Chevy Silverado and we were off. I asked where we were going and he mumbled something about making a quick “pick up.” We traveled across Highway 50 and a couple of blocks east of Main Street. I was still oblivious as he pulled his truck up to a house and it finally dawned on me that the quick “pick up” was actually a “REPO.” Uncle Earl asked me if I wanted to go with him – saying something resolutely about needing to repossess some furniture or get a check.

Most who know me are aware that I do not delight in conflict, confrontation, and enraged, upset, and profane persons. I sheepishly declined my uncle’s offer. After a few moments, I had an epiphany… these people could be from my church!!! They could be from my congregation!!! How could I face them on Sunday? I felt sick! I slid down in that Chevy pick-up seat, making sure that the residents haggling with my uncle could not see my face. I continued to slide as low as I could.

Crouched down in the floorboard that evening, something else dawned on me. That’s exactly what Jesus came to do. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10. The Message says: “The Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.” That’s right! Jesus was on a special mission to seek, recover, and restore God’s creation that was lost.

This season of Lent is all about celebrating and recognizing the One who came to redeem and restore us through His suffering. And you know what baffles me? He wants us to help. He wants us to seek lost people too. That’s our task. Think of it as working for the Lord’s Restoration and Recovery Service!

Kendall Franklin is the not-so-serious Senior Pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in Hutchinson, Kansas.