Preparing for Your Moment

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” (I Peter 3:15)

Sometimes you know when your moment is coming but most times you don’t.

Later this morning–what started me thinking about all this–I’m to be interviewed for a national Christian radio hookup. Readers of this blog will recall the “Christian Bucket List” from late April and early May. (The list of 50 required five articles over a two week period.) Someone at Moody Radio saw them and asked if they can interview me concerning them.

Far from “condoning” or “enduring” such interviews, I love them. No one who goes into the Lord’s work does so hoping to keep their ministry a secret. So, let’s do it.

I have no idea what they will ask. But, in preparation, I went back last night and looked over the five articles. And made a little discovery. One item of the fifty is mentioned twice. But this can be edited and corrected, thankfully. One of the blessings of blogging.

For the last week, I’ve had a post-it note beside my computer: “Monday. Interview. Moody Radio. 10 am. Deb.” A reminder to pray for the Father’s presence in this and a prompting to be near the home phone at that time.

It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been interviewed, so it’s not about my having the jitters. (At this point, anyone else would pause to list some of the radio and TV stations/networks I’ve done interviews with. But let’s pass on that. Suffice it to say there have been several. This is not about me.)

What this is about is the need for a minister or any follower of the Lord Jesus to be prepared for that moment when the microphone is poked in his face and he is asked to account for something important.

I recall an article from a newsmagazine in which a consultant was prepping politicians and Fortune 500 big-shots for their moment in the spotlight, for good or ill. Some of his points have lingered with me to this day.

Then yesterday, seeing the CEO of Massey Energy appearing before a Senate committee on C-Span to explain the deaths of the coal miners a few months back in his West Virginia mine brought it all home.

I expect the CEO of British Petroleum has conferred with consultants on how to come across to the public as believable, confident, and yet contrite at the same time. Admit what you can, explain all you must, but do or say nothing to play into the hands of the lawyers who are lining up to clean out your bank accounts.


As I recall from the article, the consultant told his clients:

–focus on your message. Figure out what you want to get across to the public. Make it brief and positive. Learn it by heart and repeat it to yourself until you can recite it in your sleep.

–forget about the reporter sitting in front of you. This is not about him/her. You are addressing your larger constituency, the American public.

–stay on message. When the reporter asks a question, you are under no obligation to give a direct answer. Keep returning to the message you want to get across.

I recall reading this and thinking, “That explains why interviews with corporate big-shots have always driven me up the wall. They never give a straight answer. If the reporter asks, ‘Is your tie green?’ they will say, ‘I’m glad you asked that; it gives me a chance to get something off my chest–‘ and they’re gone.”

Al Meredith was (and still is) pastor of Fort Worth’s Wedgwood Baptist Church on September 15, 1999, when a gunman entered his church auditorium where a youth rally was going on and killed seven people before shooting himself. In the hours and days following, Pastor Al was interviewed on television dozens of times by media from all over the world.

In 2005, while in Fort Worth to speak in his church, I picked Meredith’s brain on this event. He says those days were like a blur, everything was happening so quickly. He hardly remembers what he said. He had no time–absolutely no time–to prepare.

What he said was magnificent. In fact, I suspect this well-loved pastor looks at videos of some of those interviews and is in awe himself at the words of insight, compassion, and witness pouring from his lips. The Holy Spirit was on the job.

So when did this pastor prepare for the eyes of the world to be turned in his direction? Answer: that morning when he rose and opened the Word and spent time with the Heavenly Father. When he prayed for the Spirit to guide him that day, to use him, to open his mouth and fill it with His words, to direct his steps.

Most days when Pastor Al prayed that prayer, nothing momentuous happened. That day, the world changed for him forever.

I watched Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company, sitting before the Senate subcommittee Sunday afternoon–it was being replayed on C-SPAN from last Thursday, May 20, 2010–as he sat alongside the last person in the world he wanted to share a table with, Cecil Roberts, longtime president of the United Mine Workers of America (the coal miners union).

Again and again, the senators asked about the poor safety record, the hundreds of violations of standard safety rules, and the many deaths in his company’s coal mines over the past decade. They would drill Blankenship and then ask Roberts to comment. Interestingly, they addressed each other as “Cecil” and “Don.” But I’m betting they don’t golf together or play pool or watch the big game over at each other’s house.

I grew angry watching Blankenship spouting the same line he had clearly memorized about the fine safety record Massey’s mines had achieved, the awards they have won, the innovative procedures they have in place. “But Mr. Blankenship, how do you explain all these deaths of the miners?” That was his cue to launch back into their safety record and how industry-wide their deaths are no higher than on the average for the number of tons of coal they produce.

Cecil Roberts did not let him get by with that. Again and again, he refuted Blankenship’s numbers and called him down–respectfully, I thought, maybe a little too much so–for his twisted logic.

My father, a lifelong coal miner and yes, a nearly-lifelong member of the UMWA, would not have been able to watch that. (He went to heaven in late 2007.) So I grew angry for him. Here is the CEO of a company known industry-wide for cutting the corners on safety procedures and when his company gets caught red-handed by the explosion that killed all those miners, he brags about his safety record.

My dad would say this shows why the workers of that mine should have voted to unionize. They had no defender, no one to speak up for them and insist that the company keep faith with the workers. No advocate. The employees had thrown themselves on the mercy of the company and were finding out too late what a bad decision that was.

I suppose Mr. Blankenship had no other recourse than to do what he did before the Senate panel. If he admits on national television to being the louse he is (this is not just my opinion!) and putting profits above the welfare of his employees, all the lawsuits against the company will have just been won by the plaintiffs.

What he should have done and should yet do is to resign his position, repent of his sins, and show the world what an honest man looks like. Instead, he shows the world how a corporate bigshot stonewalls and obfuscates and justifies the indefensible.

Sorry. Back to the point.

One never knows at what point the world will turn in his direction and demand answers from him. A Christian has no way of knowing when he rises in the morning that this could turn out to be the most important day of his life.

Ask the president and CEO of British Petroleum. In my part of the world–Southeast Louisiana–this company is public enemy number one. When he goes before a television camera to represent his corporation, no one is objective. He is on the spot.

A few years back, a young woman in a North Georgia town was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. An escaped criminal burst into her apartment and held her and her child captive, as I recall. When the episode ended and the story came out, the woman gave her testimony. She told how she had talked to the man about the Lord and read to him from one of Rick Warren’s “purpose-driven” books.

Every media person in the country reacted the same. Here was an attractive single woman frightened out of her wits doing something truly courageous. What kind of person is she?

So they started delving into her background.

The reporters found she had a checkered past, as I recall. But she had come to know the Lord and would tell anyone who listened how Jesus had changed her life.

The young woman was an incredible witness. And she had done nothing–absolutely nothing–to prepare for her moment on the world’s stage. She was authentically Christian and the Holy Spirit did in her exactly what Jesus had promised. “Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say.” (Matthew 10:19)

Her testimony had also catapulted Rick Warren into the spotlight, a place he had already grown accustomed to. And because he seems to stay prepared for whatever the Lord has in store for him that day, Rick was ready and seized the moment.

On ill-fated September 11, 2001, when terrorists took down the World Trade towers and the four airliners, within hours the media was interviewing every person related to each aspect of this world-shaking event: the families of the victims, the first-responders, architects, politicians, and anyone who had seen anything. No one had time to prepare for the cameras and microphones and the print reporters.

When we know in advance the media is coming–even the Christian media which will be considerate and responsible in its reporting–we are given a gift. We have time to prepare our thoughts on what we want to communicate and time to pray for the Father to clear our minds and use our words.

Even so, we have no way of knowing when we rise in the morning what the Father has awaiting us later in the day. That’s the joy of the Christian life, of course.

And, let’s be honest–it’s the frightening aspect of the Christian life too!

I suspect the Lord intended it to be that way in order to keep us on our knees and looking to Him for guidance and sustenance.

We end with everyone’s favorite text: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

2 thoughts on “Preparing for Your Moment

  1. Joe: Those moments do come to us many times. And the amazing thing to me is that God works with us and gives us the words and directs our words. And the final product may not be what we had prepared for provided we had the time.

  2. What is Rick Warren doing on the Advisory Council of Tony Blair’s Interfaith Foundation?

    tonyblairfaithfoundation.org

    The Tony Blair Faith Foundation aims to **promote respect and understanding about the world’s major religions** and show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world.

    Members of the advisory council-

    tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/pages/who-we-are

    Anantanand Rambachan, Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at St. Olaf College, Minnesota

    The Reverend David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance

    Rabbi David Rosen, Chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations

    Dr Ismail Khudr AL-Shatti, Advisor in Diwan of HH the Prime Minister of Kuwait and former President of the Gulf Institute for Futures and Strategic Studies

    Professor Jagtar Singh Grewal, former Chairman of the India Institute of Advanced Study and former Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University

    Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot of the Upaya Zen Center

    The Reverend Joel Edwards, Director of Micah Challenge International and former General Director of the Evangelical Alliance.

    Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

    Right Reverend Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Bishop of Kaduna

    The Reverend Dr Rick Warren, Founding and Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church and Founder of the P.E.A.C.E Coalition.

    The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Richard Chartres, Lord Bishop of London

    Tony Blair courts Rick Warren in bid to **unite faiths**

    From The Guardian(UK) – 3/14/2010

    Tony Blair is preparing to launch a “faith offensive” across the United States over the next year, after building up relationships with a network of influential religious leaders and faith organisations.

    ————————————–

    The accounts also shine a light on the close connections the foundation now enjoys with major political institutions in the US. “With the Washington-based Centre for Interfaith Action, the foundation supported a meeting of major international organisations active in faith-based approaches to combating malaria **(plus the White House, World Bank, UN, World Health Organisation)** to co-ordinate international efforts,” the accounts state.

    Rick Warren’s Lie – “God smiles when you be you”

    youtube.com/watch?v=OvyyEIEDqrQ

    Warren says Christian fundamentalism is motivated by fear

    jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/2006/01/rick_warrne_on_.html

    2nd Cor 6:14-17, Romans 16:17-18, Acts 2:38, Acts 4:12, Galatians 1:6-10, 2nd Peter 2:1-3, and Jude 1:3-4

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