Willow and Racial Reconciliation

Bill Hybels is committed to racial reconcilation. Not only are we seeing this commitment in the rise of the so-called minority population at Willow (up to 20%), but we are seeing it in his annual dedication of Martin Luther King Jr weekend to a service about racial reconciliation. This weekend Richard Allen Farmer, a pastor, preacher, and professor in Dallas, addressed us about “Fluences”: the capacity to use “affluence” for “influence” but that influence is only complete when it turns into action with others in what he called “confluence.”
 

Richard Allen Farmer‘s eloquent and inspiring sermon included an illustration from one of his specialties: music. Instead of seeing some kinds of music as “improper” or “wrong” or “inferior,” we are far better off seeing that kind of music as “different.” He then sang Amazing Grace the way they sang it at Nyack when he was a student and also how they sang it in his NYC church when he grew up. Which is right?, he asked us. He called us to realize that Christians need not to tolerate diversity but to celebrate diversity.

Topping off this weekend’s service for me was that the worship team had three former NPU students … awesome. It made me think about our new worship program.