One Punk Under God
Sunday nights @ Destiny, a few students and I gather together for what we call Catalyst Discipleship. The gathering is designed for those who want to go deeper than our entry-level, large-group rally services on Wednesday nights. We focus on discipleship issues, accountability, and ask the “tough questions” that we typically wouldn’t go into on a Wednesday.
Currently, our group has been watching a documentary on the life of Jay Bakker, which first aired on the Sundance Channel sometime last year. Jay is the son of televangelist Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker who, during the time of the documentary, was pastoring a church plant in a bar located in Atlanta. His story is one of challenging the church to love and reach out to those that typically the church hasn’t done a great job of reaching out to (i.e. the punk scene, the bar crowd, homosexuals). Some of his ideas are unorthodox — and some would even say un-biblical — which has allowed us some pretty interesting discussion. I personally don’t agree with everything that Jay preaches, and have even prefaced a few of our discussions because of that… but, on the other hand, I and our students have been overwhelming challenged and inspired by his story and his passion for those who don’t know Jesus.
I had the opportunity to hear Jay preach a few years ago at a Youth Specialties convention and was totally blown away by his message. I ordered it on DVD and have watched it several times since. I plan on sharing it with our group when the One Punk Under God series is finished. I sincerely believe that my whole view of the church’s role in evangelism shifted on that day and I’ve stayed connected with Jay’s message and ministry ever since. Visit www.revolutionchurch.com to see what Jay’s currently doing (spoiler warning: if you don’t want to know how One Punk Under God ends, don’t go here!).
If you want to check out Jay’s story for yourself, you can download the whole 6-part series off of iTunes for just $10.
[…] For more on “One Punk Under God” and Jay’s current ministry, check out this previous post. […]