Bar Ministry

      While I was on my five day mission trip to Haiti I prayed for God to call me into the mission field. I got my answer but it wasn't what I expected. God was calling me to be a missionary in the United States. I would rather move somewhere cool like Haiti, Africa or South America but God has other plans. He made it perfectly clear that I was to be fighting for souls here in the U.S. Now I didn't really know what that meant so this past month I have spent a large amount of time in prayer, asking God to reveal where He wants me to go. At first I thought it was only blogging and volunteering but last weekend I was asked to do something that I felt was completely insane.

     The pastor I went to Haiti with and a few other men from Eastside Vineyard Church in Pickerington asked me to join them in starting a bar ministry. You're  probably wondering what kind of people would seriously go around a bunch of drunks to preach the love of God. I questioned the same thing until I realized I tend to follow a radical man who did something similar thousands of years ago by the name of Jesus. Jesus was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton because He associated himself among those who needed him most. I still go out with my friends to bars but rarely ever bring up the topic of faith, I guess I felt it just wasn't appropriate, however, this felt different.

        Six of us met at Eastside Vineyard in Pickerington at 11:30pm on Friday night. You could tell by our facial expressions that we felt completely out of our element. We prayed for God to lead us to wherever He wanted us to go. Our mission, was to pass out free coffee, water and offer prayer to those who wanted it. At this point I put fear aside. My buddy Nick put it best “If I have to get punched in the face to share Gods love than that’s what I am called to do”. We parked in front of the first bar, I remember thinking “I hope someone backs out so I can go home, this is crazy”. A moment later, Pastor Adam said “Let's go boys” as he picked up the water cooler and walked up to the chain smokers posting up outside the bar. The rest of us lagged behind as he offered coffee and was turned down time and time again but a few minutes later our night changed. A middle aged lady sitting on a bench said "I would love a cup of coffee.” She smiled and said “what's the catch?” Pastor Adam smiled and replied “there is no catch, we just want to serve our community tonight.” That reaction to Adam's generosity motivated me to change my whole outlook on what we were doing. It finally became clear to me, since people won't come to church, I'll bring church to them. I made up my mind that I was going to love on people in a way I wish I would have been loved on when I was caught up in the party scene.

        After the first two bars we were able to pray for a handful of people who wanted a deeper connection with God. Many of them thanked us for caring enough about them to come out and love on them. I spent twenty minutes talking to one guy outside the bar. He wasn't interested in prayer so we talked about his kids, life and drinking. We actually shared a lot in common, 7 and 7 was his drink of choice, one of my old college favorites. He told me he felt like he needed to give up drinking for a week but hasn't done it. I shared with him how God put on my heart to give up drinking for a month and how it has changed my life completely. I shook his hand and told him I would be praying for him, as I walked away I heard him call me back “Hey Zach, I'll be praying for you too” he said with a smile. As we went to our cars to go to another bar we noticed a guy swerving through the parking lot, he parked his car and I approached him “Hey man, can I offer you some coffee or water?” He tripped as he walked toward me and I helped him catch his balance “Nah man, I'm about to go to this bar to get messed up”. At this time a man approached him and allowed him to lean on him. “This is my brother-in-law” the drunk man said, we offered them both coffee and the sober brother-in-law obliged “thanks guys, so why are you guys out here?” Our response was always the same “we are just out here serving our community and blessing people” He was happy to hear that and asked us to pray for him and his family. His drunk friend offered us drugs to which we politely declined.

        It was about 12:45am when we arrived at the third bar of the evening. One man was passed out right outside the bar, we walked up and tried waking him without touching him. We put a water bottle beside him and before you knew it the bar employees were out on the curb yelling at him to get off their property. His cousin came out and dragged him over to another pillar. At this point we had talked to a few people and handed out some more coffee. I went into the bar to use the restroom when I was asked to pay a $3 cover, I told them my bladder could hold it for $3. As I walked out I turned around and asked the bouncer if they charge a cover all the time and he said only on the weekends. As I looked up I saw a big cross necklace dangling on his neck. I complimented him and told him I liked his cross, “thanks man” I asked him if he was a Christian and he said “oh yeah man, my heart's with Jesus.” My face lit up with a smile “me too” I replied. “We are just out here serving our  community and offering prayer and coffee for those who need it” He put his arm around me and hugged me “can you pray for me man”he said as looked down at me with a grin. I smiled and asked him what he needed prayer for and he said "spiritual protection and guidance." As I laid my hands on his massive shoulders and began praying for God to protect his heart, body and soul from all the negativity of our world, I noticed he had his hands raised with his eyes closed. Suddenly, it didn't seem so crazy to go to bars and pray for people, even the bouncer, the biggest guy at the bar needed to feel Gods love that night.

        While at one of the rougher bars in town we prayed for two Harley bikers. They were father and son. One needed prayer for finances and the other needed prayer for a surgery he was going to have in the upcoming week. They hugged us after we finished praying for them and thanked us for seeking them out. It was 1:50 am and we were wanting to call it a night until Pastor Adam felt we needed to stop at one last bar. We pulled up and it was dead. We decided to wait a few minutes until the bar closed to see if anyone would come out. By this time my eyes were half shut and my body was running on empty. The band began to move the stuff out into the moving truck, we offered to help them load everything but all they would accept was our free coffee. You may know this already, but the longer we stayed out the drunker the people were that we talked to and I was okay with that.

        We were about to leave when a young woman was walking to her car “Hey, do you need a water for the ride home?” She walked up and said “sure, how much do I owe you?” We laughed “no charge, take a few”. She was curious now, “what are you guys doing here?” We responded “just sharing Gods love, you know He loves you right?” She put her head down as she held back the tears and shook her head yes. We asked her what her name was and if she believed in God. She said she does but doesn't go to church. Pastor Adam asked if she wanted more out of life. She responded by shaking her head yes and telling us she just had a baby girl two weeks ago. To be honest I wanted to ask her why she wasn't at home taking care of her new born child but part of being a Christian is doing my best not to judge others. I told her God has a plan for her, that He wants more for her, more for her children. She shook her head and said “I know, I just don't know how.” Lucky for her she was in good company! We prayed over her and encouraged her to seek out God, whether that meant praying more or going to church.

        I didn't do this bar ministry because I felt like I can relate to drinkers. I went because I knew God wanted me to play a part in someone's life that night. I had no idea how many people wanted to be prayed for that night. Satan tried convincing me that I would look like a fool, be called names (which did happen) and possibly get into physical harm. The reality is God wants us to go over the top for him. I hear people all the time tell me how their faith is a private matter. If you're a Christian then it should be anything BUT a private matter. Jesus talked about how important it is to share the Gospel and the importance of fellowship. If you call yourself a Christian then you are called to share God's love, sing his praise through times of prosperity and suffering. I know many Christians who want to  acknowledge Jesus during Easter and Christmas but what about the other 363 days a year? If we don't share the love of Jesus Christ then we are not doing what He asks us to do.

       God's children need love. I found out during our first night of bar ministry that all God's children need to be loved. A year ago I would have been the person stumbling out of the bar but now God has called me to help those people, to care for them and to speak words of encouragement in their life. Everybody needs to feel loved, not just the people who seek it out but those who neglect that need. Our mission that night at the bar was to share the love of Jesus and I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who needed and embraced the love we shared. I still don't feel comfortable going to bars to share God's love but if I don't do it, i'm afraid no one will.