Such a Strange Way to Save the World

One of the blessings of serving as a Southern Baptist Pastor in Florida is that the North American Mission Board has entrusted the evangelization of Cuba to the state of Florida. As a Pastor in this state, I can relatively easily visit Cuba on a religious visa to conduct mission work. There are many disadvantages to doing work in a communist country, one being that they throttle the internet. They tell you what you can see and when you can see it.

In Havana, Cuba, there were only certain places at certain times you could get online. That means that you get a week’s worth of emails in about 15 minutes. As I was scrolling through dozens of emails, some important, many junk, I glanced at one whose subject line in all caps said, HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL - OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT.

My first thought was - one of those jokers back at First Baptist Fernandina is about to get me into serious trouble with Castro playing a prank like that - they ought to know better.
But I stopped and read more carefully. It turns out that a friend of mine, Rick White, gave my name to his friend, Dr. Jay Strack, who happened to be on President Trump’s Spiritual Advisory Council. And I was to present myself at the East Wing Entrance of the White House at 10:30 AM on October 9th.

The wording of the letter did not read like an invitation; it read more like a summons. The Vice President and key Cabinet members would brief a group of about 100 Pastors, and I was honored to be one of them.

NOW - for a boy from Dembo Hollow, Alabama, that was a big deal. As soon as I got back to Jacksonville, I told Julie, “I need to buy me a new suit, and I don’t mean one of those men’s warehouse suits like I normally wear, I need a real suit, tailor-made.” They measured me every which way a man could be measured, and I have to say, in the words of cousin Eddie, “It looked real nice”.

When I arrived at the East Wing Entrance, I was greeted there by Secret Service, all well armed with automatic weapons, some with body armor - one had a Belgian Malinois attack dog.

The first thing they wanted to do was verify my identity. I had to show my driver’s license and my passport. Then, after being thoroughly patted down and scanned in every which way, I placed my cell phone, wallet, car keys, and everything else in a sealed bag, which was then locked in a lockbox. They then escorted me into a particular parlor where several other Pastors were gathered. I tried to carry on like I had been there a hundred times.

From there, we were escorted into a theater-style briefing room. After another 30 minutes of waiting, a hush fell over the room, officials began scurrying around, and out walked the Vice President of the United States. We all stood and applauded.

He spoke for about 10 minutes, told us how much our work means to the country, posed for a photo op, and then we were politely dismissed.

Since that time, I’ve had similar grand experiences. Once with One More Child, Julie and I visited with the President and First Lady of Guatemala - again, all the pomp and circumstance, all the security, only there because I knew the right person and the right time, I had to turn my cell phone in, etc, etc. Bought a new suit for that one also.

Our own Representative Bean gave me the distinct opportunity to open a session of the US Congress in prayer - similar vibe, Secret Service, private escorts, certain places we could go, certain places I could not go. In fact, before they put this boy from Dembo Hollar, Alabama, in front of the microphone of the US Congress, they wanted to see exactly what I intended to say - can’t say that I blame them for that—got a new suit for that one also.

But all of those opportunities have certain things in common:

1. You had to know somebody important
2. You had to present yourself a certain way
3. You had to understand the protocol
4. You had to go to a very important city and the most critical place in that city
5. And to be honest, you wondered the whole time if you were supposed to be there, or if there had been some grand mistake along the way.

I tell you all of that to show you how different it was for the shepherds on that first Christmas.