shuts down the neighborhood. It’s
chaotic,” he said. “Someone told
me that the church is cultish. They
have their own community, their
own coffee shop, their own workout
facility and gymnasium. I heard the
leader is cultish too. People gather
just to hear him talk about stuff. He’s
kind of a cult leader.” that church sometime so you can
form an accurate opinion.”
My ministry colleague ventured to
ask, “Where is this church located?” This guy didn’t miss a beat. He put his
hand out and said, “Nice to meet you,
The man answered with the name of
our street. Instead of chiming in, I just
sat and listened. I was interested in
what else he would blame us for. He
ranted a few more minutes, making
wildly unfair judgments about our
church based on hearsay. At that
point we had to leave to keep our
schedule elsewhere, so I told the man
in parting, “You might want to attend Mr. David Koresh.” He was referring
to the cult leader of the Branch
Davidians in Waco, Texas. In 1993
Koresh led his followers in a standoff
with federal agents, which ended
when the compound burned down.
34 Solutions
“Not gonna happen,” he said
instantly. “I’m not drinking the Kool-
Aid.”
By then my friend couldn’t contain
himself. He laughed and said, “Luke is
the pastor of that church.”
In an earlier season of my life, that
conversation would have caused
me a lot of angst. I might have
gone back and wondered how