We're going down : guns, troubles, Ireland, evangelical fundraisers.
I shot an apparently-prominent fellow within the Christian Evangelical community. I say ‘apparently’ because I sort-of knew who he was, and I am not well-versed on prominent figures within that community, save the most vociferous of them who have earned my disrespect and loathing for indefensible and unconscionable words and actions of:
aggressive exclusions,
enthusiastic demagoguery, and
general disinterest in consistently following the words and directives of Jesus Christ.
Behind the scenes : my work suite for the day.
Anyway. I took the job because it paid decent and there weren’t blatant red flags to stop me. Note: I lost a very-well paying client in mid-2020, due to my rejection of working, on their behalf, on a series of fundraising letters for a President-at-the-time. My life has plenty of hypocrisy; I am not above that. In fact, I worked this job on a Saturday; a day that our family observes as our Sabbath or Shabbat. This job was on this day; something I typically do not do, as we reserve this day for communion and connection with each other, with others, with God, with the natural world. But I took it.
At one point, I spoke to the gentleman who handles much of his media. I liked what he said about this evangelist:
“He’s an evangelist, but he doesn’t say one thing and act another.”
I (can) respect that.
Other notes on the day:
Recurring phrases included:
The country’s going downhill…
We all know…
There was a reference to a certain fundraising mark being “…only $18 thousand.” There was also some competitive statements made about other prominent evangelists, such as Focus on the Family’s James Dobson: “…with our recent number, we passed Dobson’s Odyssey in our rear view mirror…”
There was a reference to an upcoming evangelist campaign. A great deal of buildup and making the audience guess. What might be the most difficult country in the world to evangelize, at least within this particular denomination?
If you guessed North Korea or Iran or…many others, you’d be…wrong.
The answer is Ireland. For reasons that never became clear to me.
“These are not pledge cards we’re giving out. They are faith promise cards. Not pledge cards.” But in a manner strangely reminiscent of pledge cards, donors and potential donors were asked to put numbers down they’d be willing to invest in evangelism projects. “Whatever amount you can do. $5 to $10 thousand is fine.”
Need those missions to Ireland done. And a host of other projects.
Other
COVID test upon arrival. Not that I was happy to do it. But, strangely and sadly impressed that a church-type event was requiring it.
The hotel this was based at had free coffee. But you had to go ask them to make it. They very nice. I did so. Three times.
I saw some people there I recognized from other places and other times. Some recognized me. Some did not.
I spoke with the head media fellow about kids, Hamilton, the Padres in the playoffs, and trail running. He also reiterated that this religious group, despite a lot of conservatism, was “…a good group.”
I spoke with another fellow who was adept with lighting, and talked about his son, when he found out I enjoy writing:
“My son writes for a certain financial services company, and he had an English teacher in high school, in academy. He learned words, you know. His English teacher taught him that stuff. She was too liberal for me, but she taught him about words.”
This same fellow also engaged in a long conversation, as we were striking, with two others. The topic was the 2nd Amendment, how stupid and liberal California is, and how to use backroads to get in and out of states when you’re carrying without authorization (e.g. concealed weapons permits, certain types of ammunition, etc.). The others he was holding court with? A retired pastor involved in their ministry, and another who had led the fundraising call earlier in the afternoon. I did not join in, and kept working as he railed against Democrats, liberalism, communism, and most types of gun legislation or regulation; the four appear to be inextricably linked together in his mind.
So that was how I spent a portion of the day. Did some work. Met some interesting folk. Had a decent conversation and listened in on a handful of others. A day filled with opportunity for observation, reflection, and contemplation over our space and time on this Earth and how we choose to use it.
Shabbat Shalom.