Letter from Bro. Chester Wright to Bro. Haney

[Dagwood]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

As Pastor Larry Huck - a Mega-Church Pastor in Portland, OR & Dallas, TX asked me and a group of about 40 Ex-UPC Pastors with great and successful Churches - "I never could understand WHY the UPC kicks out the BEST preachers that they have!" I said - Larry, We think outside the box and they want everybody to think like them!
I wonder if Jesus would wear a T-shirt and jeans to reach somebody and let them know he loved them?

I'm sure he would, despite those who staunchly believe otherwise...

[UnTraditional]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

As Pastor Larry Huck - a Mega-Church Pastor in Portland, OR & Dallas, TX asked me and a group of about 40 Ex-UPC Pastors with great and successful Churches - "I never could understand WHY the UPC kicks out the BEST preachers that they have!" I said - Larry, We think outside the box and they want everybody to think like them!
I wonder if Jesus would wear a T-shirt and jeans to reach somebody and let them know he loved them?

Religion... kills folks dead.

[ThePastorsCoach]

Originally Posted by UnTraditional

Religion... kills folks dead.

That is so true!
Rules without Relationship breeds Rebellion!
I preached in jeans and a t-shirt at 16 years old and saw many saved and healed. In the culture we are in today - the under 40 crowd do not want to dress up to go to church. Why should we make them or make them feel ODD that they are in jeans and we are decked out in our Sunday best?

I went to a FORWARD Youth Conference with about 16,000 teens that is sponsored by our church - www.FreeChapel.com and thousands rejoiced and praised God and wept and ran to the altars to be saved and filled with God's Power. I never saw one person in a suit. It was all jeans, t-shirts and casual dress, but such an incredible hunger for God and His Kingdom!

I went to a UPC Youth Convention where about 500 from all over Georgia were at. They were all decked out in suits & fancy dresses - hair piled up with elaborate hairdos, boys hair had so much Gel in it to spike it all up for a year!
They were nice but condescending and you could see them whisper - Who is that? and look at you odd. I am not putting them down - they have been taught that - They feel privileged and entitled to put others down like they were the best and everyone else was beneath them. I know it is not like that everywhere but for the most part it is where I have been. They did the customary shout and jumped up and down a couple times but it was the same ole - same ole and I so wished they could be in an environment where they were free to praise and worship and not feel they had to put on airs.

These kids go to school in jeans and t-shirts and very relaxed casual dress as well as all their classmates. They do not feel they can even ask them to church because they know they do not look the part. That is one reason so many have been lost in the Apostolic Movement and the UPC in particular because many have always felt they just could not measure up!
I believe that our Lord Jesus Christ would have been in jeans, t-shirt and flip flops or tennis shoes or sandals with a guitar slung around his neck and singing Praises to the top of His lungs and showing them all that He Loved and Cared for all of them - Jeans, sandals, ear,nose and face piercings and even tattoos.
Jesus Loves All The Children of the World!