Motivator #11

John Fischer tells of attending a “birthday bash” at the Starplex amphitheater in Dallas. The partygoers were there to celebrate the anniversary of a local alternative rock station. On that summer night the smoke from tobacco “and some other leaves” hung low. One Christian group—Jars of Clay—was the only Christian group to appear. The man next to Fischer had five earrings on his face, only two of which were on his ears. As Fischer looked out over the crowd, six young men—Jars of Clay—slipped onstage and began to sing, “Arms nailed down, are you telling me something?” Fischer said to himself, “We’ve waited a long time for this.”

Noticing Fischer’s backstage pass, the man with the facial jewelry asked Fischer, “Are you with Jars?” “Yes,” Fischer answered. The man continued, “If you’re going to see them afterwards, would you thank them for me? I became a Christian listening to their CD. I played it over and over and figured out just about everything. I went and got a Christian friend of mine—pulled him out of a party—and told him I wanted to get saved right away. He didn’t believe me. You wouldn’t have either. I hated Christians.” (John Fischer, Fearless Faith: Living Beyond the Walls of “Safe” Christianity (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2002), 221-23.)

I think this is a testimony of the power of the Gospel to be proclaimed through a variety of mediums. The man in this story probably would never receive belief in Christ in a traditional way, from a church service or a bible study. He received the message through a medium that was culturally applicable to him: music. The Gospel of Christ was communicated to this young man through the lyrics and music of Jars of Clay, a medium that only Jars of Clay could uniquely portray in the way that they did. Jars of Clay did what they were called to do as followers of Christ: proclaim the Gospel of God. They did it in a way that reaches a unique group of people, and I believe that is the beauty of the unique differences that make up the body of Christ.