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Upper Room Daily Devotional

A Note from Pastor Bill

Dear family in faith,

Kim and I returned to Orlando last night from a week's trip out of town for me to officiate at the 25th Anniversary Vow Renewal of good friends. While I was gone a rumor circulated through the congregation via Facebook and email that Kim and I were seen in a somewhat passionate lip-lock on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien." No need to check snopes.com to see if this one is true. Sharp and not too sleepy eyes did indeed catch us around 11:40 PM last Friday smooching for Conan's "Kiss Cam." I have been receiving emails and texts messages from people all around the country asking if what they thought they saw while falling asleep really was what they thought they saw: some familiar looking bald guy kissing a really attractive woman in the audience.

Our friends in Los Angeles had reserved tickets for Conan's show, and while we were waiting outside in line to enter the studio, a young show producer came up to us, asked us if we were married, then asked if we would do something on the show. When I asked what we had to do and he said "Just kiss," I was on that like a bear on honey. The rest is history.

Adding to an already interesting California trip was our last night's dinner. We were guests of family friends who are major investors in a new restaurant in Santa Monica called "Stefan's at L.A. Farm." The restaurant officially opens this coming Friday, but we attended a "soft opening" for family and friends. Those of you who watched the most recent "Top Chef" series competition will remember Stefan Richter, the runner-up to top chef winner Hosea. Well this was Stefan's new restaurant as a celebrity chef, and at the end of the evening he took me by the arm and literally dragged me to the kitchen, where he asked me to bless the kitchen, the staff, and himself. He gave me a huge hug and a big "high five."

As for the vow renewal, it was held in a park on a bluff in Santa Monica overlooking the Pacific and the famous Santa Monica pier at sunset. In addition to the invited guests there were plenty of welcome spectators, and a few of them stopped me afterwards to ask what kind of service I had conducted because everyone was so happy and there was so much laughter and joy. Like so many people we met out there, most began by saying, "I don't go to church, but..." and then they would go on to ask something about this odd idea of ordering one's life around faith.

It used to be that you had to go to someplace like Southern California to meet people who were completely outside of the "bubble" of church and the Christian faith, but times have changed a lot and fast. Post-modern society is a secular one. Reaching people who have the real important questions that begin with "but," doesn't take place inside the church anymore. It happens outside. It happens in the coffee shop, in the gym, in the grocery store, in the car pool, on the playground, at the tee box.

Evangelism (the theological word for sharing the Gospel) is no longer best done by clergy—as if it ever was!—but by regular folk just sharing their stories and living their lives in Christ. It is sort of like being pulled out of line and asked to do something you already know how to do, like....kiss. Kim and I practiced there in Studio 2, but not because we needed to. It came naturally to us after 32 years. Listening to someone else, telling your own story, and leaving open an invitation to hear and know more is what evangelism is about these days. It will come naturally to many of you, but we are also going to help you be less stressed and more comfortable about it if you are not.

Come hear the story of Peter and Cornelius this Sunday. A whole lot of that true story of acceptance, openness, and God's grace-directed will is going to ring true for us. Read Acts 10:1-48.

With faith, hope, and Kiss-Cam love,

Bill