I ran into a couple men the other night. These guys are in my small group on Friday nights, and we’re a big part of each other’s lives. One guy who will remain unnamed, named Rob was mentioning my blog and how I’m (as he said) “on fire right now” as far as writing blogs on a more frequent level. He went on to say that he not only enjoys reading my blog, but recommends it to others every chance he gets. While I was absolutely gratified and humbled to hear those things, I was also challenged. I don’t think Rob (oops, I mean Mr. Unnamed) meant to challenge me, but nevertheless, he did.

I just looked at the clock in the bottom right hand corner of the computer screen….(you just looked at yours, didn’t you?)….and I saw that I have now about 15 minutes or so left before I have to head out the door. I’ve got some errands to run before heading into the city of Richmond to shoot a video where I will ask strangers on the street basically two questions:
1. What comes to your mind when you hear the word “Christian”?
2. What words do you think should be synonymous with the word “Christian”?

None of this will be scripted, so it’s going to be interesting no matter what. I’m looking forward to this little social/spiritual experiment. While I’ll try and remember to follow up on this with another blog soon, I’d like to take a stab at what I think people will say, generally speaking (including stereotypes which of course are stereotypes for a reason)…
Christians are…
–hypocritical/a bunch of hypocrites.
–“holier than thou”.
–all about rules and what you can’t do.
–people who don’t know how to have any fun.
–judgmental.
–narrow-minded and bigoted.
–intolerant of other people’s view besides their own.
–out-of-touch with reality.

Here’s what I HOPE I hear…
Christians are…
–people who love others unconditionally.
–agents of positive change in their communities.
–pictures of grace and humility.
–those who leap to the aid of the hurting and defenseless.
–more concerned with people than rules about people.
–willing to love the unloved.
–forgiving.
–an example of what a life is like when God is clearly present.
–obsessed with Jesus and devoutly living out His love.

These are just a few of my thoughts before I head out the door with 2 minutes left to grab my stuff and hit the bathroom one more time. I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on “What is a Christian?” And if you are a Christian, is there someone who isn’t that you’d be willing to ask this question to?