Weece - Jesus prom: life gets fun when you love people like god does

Praise for Jesus Prom

If you want a book making the gospel message accessible to young and old and to people whove had difficulty finding their way in, youve found it.

BOB GOFF, AUTHOR OF LOVE DOES, FROM THE FOREWORD

This is brilliant writing. An economy of words that cut right to the heart, keep you turning pages, and ignite within a passion to live Jesus Prom style. I loved this book.

KEN DAVIS, AUTHOR OF FULLY ALIVE

I love the message of Jesus Prom because it so faithfully captures the message of Jesus. Jon Weeces writing is compassionate and convicting as he gives us an incredible picture of what love looks like in action. Jesus Prom will move you, and your church, to find joy in authentically representing Jesus!

JUD WILHITE, AUTHOR OF PURSUED, SENIOR PASTOR OF CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Heartwarming stories of love that will help you dance with Jesus. Take as a tonic for a weary soul.

ROBERT COLEMAN, AUTHOR OF THE MASTER PLAN OF EVANGELISM

2014 by Jon Weece

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scriptures marked MSG are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NLT are from Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked TLB are from The Living Bible. 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked NKJV are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781400206919 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 9781400206902

14 15 16 17 18 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Brewster and those who dance with him

Contents

BY BOB GOFF

PART ONE: Christianthe person (n.)
who loves (v.) people

PART TWO: churchthe people (n.)
who love (v.) people

BY BOB GOFF

I bought a building once and was going to turn it into dozens of offices. It was a beautiful turn-of-the-century Victorian with many rooms, each with its own fireplace. Some had private staircases leading to them. This beautiful building even had a huge walk-in safe. I found out Wyatt Earp, the famous lawman and gambler, used to own this place and worked there. That would explain the safe.

When we were in the middle of renovations, we realized something we hadnt given any thought to originally. There was no way for people with disabilities to get into the building. The place had plenty of steps. There were hundreds in the house. It was practically made of them. But what the building needed were more ramps. All the steps in the world wont help some people get into places that arent accessible to them. Ironically, its the steps that keep these people out rather than making it easier for them to get in.

Certainly, the people who designed the building werent trying to keep anyone out. Wyatt Earp probably wasnt.

The guy who owned the building before me wasnt trying to keep people out either. As we looked a little closer at the building, the steps had almost become one of its defining characteristics. We knew we needed to change that. So we put in ramps where there once were stairs. We wanted people whod had trouble with steps to still get in. Jon wants the same thing for all of us.

This is a book about ramps. Its stories about hundreds of ways for people to get to Jesus. If you want a book with a bunch of steps in it, this isnt the one for you. If you want a book making the gospel message accessible to young and old and to people whove had difficulty finding their way in, youve found it. This isnt a book full of facts and information; its a book full of stories. And Jon is one of the best storytellers Ive heard. He tells beautiful stories about hope and grace and acceptance and forgiveness. He talks about the power of being present in peoples lives and the beauty of living a life of availability and inconvenience. This is a book about Gods tremendous love and accessibility to everybodyeven if they dont roll the way you roll.

One of the other things I like about Jon is that he doesnt make everything about him. Hes a guy who doesnt need spotlights. Bright lights never do. He avoids them the way I avoid dentists. Humble guys with a fearsome love for God will still draw people in. People come from all around to hear Jon. Ive been to his church. Its huge. It could be its own small country if they made a flag. But Jon doesnt care about any of that. If you asked him how many people show up on a Sunday, hed probably round it down to the one person standing in front of him. Thats because Jon sees things guys like me overlook. He only sees the person right in front of him.

He knows the power of inconvenient love and relentless pursuit. He also knows that if we keep making everything about us, itll never be about Jesus. So Jon doesnt even try to make it about him. He just tells us in these pages what hes seen God doing and lets us connect the dots about why Gods love for humanity is that big. Jons organized his thoughts around a couple of key wordsits a beautiful idea. Its not a book about grammar though; its a book about engagement, inclusion, and living a life of inexplicable love.

Jon and I have sat together at the end of an inlet in Canada and talked about life and love and Jesus. Just like I did when I read this book, I found myself belly laughing at Jons stories in one moment, then quietly nodding my head in agreement in another.

One afternoon while Jon was with me, he took a kayak out for a paddle. I hadnt given him directions about kayaking around the area and he hadnt asked for any. He told me about his trip later. Jon said he had been paddling for a while and went through a small passage that had some really large rocks on each side. He said at one point the paddling got a little more difficult, but he didnt give it much thought and just paddled harder.

What Jon still has no idea about is that he had just paddled through some of the most dangerous rapids in all of British Columbia. No one goes through those rapids when theyre running. Ive been up the inlet for twenty years and I havent done it. Two-hundred-foot yachts with professional captains who have tried to navigate these waters have ended up on the rocks.

Jon had hit the rapids during the few moments in the day when the tidal waters were changing directions. I think Jons done the same thing with this book. Hed tell you he just stumbled upon some of these ideas, but that wouldnt be true. This is a book from a humble guy who sees the tide changing directions in our faith communities and hes invited us to navigate those changes together. Jon draws deeply on the power of love and the examples Jesus and His friends left us to be our guides.