This won’t make sense to you unless you’ve read yesterday’s Symphony of a Thousand, but here is Carol VanderNat earlier today, the final day of the West Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Speaking on stage is Tony Campolo, yet another “progressive” Christian leader who still thinks homosexuality is a sin. (Campolo’s “solution”? Gays should remain celibate. Astonishingly, this ridiculousness is what still passes for progressive in a great many Christian circles.)
In the email to which she attached this photo, Carol wrote me:
Tony C. was talking about being an evangelical, and the inerrancy of scripture. I did the chimpanzee thing. [I’m not sure what exactly Carol means here, but I think it’s safe to guess no feces sailed through the air.] He saw me—and faltered.
The conference is done, but during it God did some great stuff. I had a pastor tell me, “You have shown me what it means to be a living sacrifice, more deeply than in all my years of ministry.” Throughout the conference members of my church showed up to sit with me. People saw your blog post, and were really moved by the stories you shared there. So they came over to share blesssings, prayers, and to just sit with me. One guy cried, saying how much my silent witnessing had impacted him—and he was one of the ones who had rolled his eyes at me on the first day.
Boy! Am I tired!
Nobody ever asked me to leave. Security was definitely trolling around, but people kept sitting down with me, and even with the guest speakers and all coming in, I’m pretty sure security understood that if they tried to throw me out, there would be a lot of noise. And there would have been.
We brought over 500 rainbow stoles, and came home with about six! It’s amazing what God can do. And He didn’t need my voice, my “wisdom,” or anything to do it.
You know what? I think I’ll write a book called: You Want Me to do WHAT?!
I’d buy that book, Carol.
I sure love the way it’s begun.
Get some rest, sister. I know I speak for all of us here when I say very well done, you good and faithful servant.
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