Let me begin by saying I was appalled and confused when I found out about the V.P.’s speaking at the convention. With all the rah-rah on unity, to put such a polarizing figure on stage seemed to be a blatant slap in the face.
Though, and no one is more surprised about this than me, I walked away from the speech strangely encouraged. Here’s the play by play:
First, this professing brother started well and ended well in regards to really driving home a message appropriate for our convention. It was the middle/body of his speech where it got awkward with what was basically a re-election speech.
I was feeling very unsettled seeing the over the top exuberance of some at every “victory” Pence touted, but before my emotions got the better of me, I had a bit of a spiritual growth spurt.
Let me explain. I began to ask myself, why would the older, wiser saints, from Dr. Gaines to the EC allow this? And then it dawned on me. Week in and week out I preach to my people that they must let the gospel come to bear wherever God has planted them. That this is God’s plan to save the world. Not to bring the world into the church, but to send the church into the world. So here we have a man, who by all accounts is a sincere believer, who is modeling what it looks like to let the gospel come to bear in their secular profession. Why am I upset?
Now, whether you agree with his politics or not, the fact is, we would all do well to take note of how it looks to not compromise excellence in your profession and also be a faithful witness. I am bi-vocational. I own a real estate company and when I am talking business, I am representing interests and I am committed to delivering the highest level of excellence to my clients, while at the same time I am laser focused about using those and every opportunity to be a faithful witness. Vice President did no more, and he did no less.
Let us submit to our elders in our denomination just like we submit to our elders in the church, there is wisdom in that even when it doesn’t make sense to us. It was a remarkably encouraging time, on to the work!
Ps. Maybe I’m just not mad because I was, in fact, able to get in with my glitter 😉
Fabian Portunato is a Send Network church planter and the lead pastor of Revolution Church in Miami, Fl. He holds an M.Div. from SEBTS. You can connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.