Saturday, December 09, 2006

so you want to be a secret agent (pt. III)

Try not to blow your cover.

When you’re out on the field and hear words like “shit, fuck, god damn, or ass hole”, don’t flinch.

You don’t have to embrace, repeat, or encourage words like these.

But flinching will blow your cover.

Mission over.

8 comments:

ericaprosser said...

What determines when and who you "come out" to?
How does someone you are assigned to become join the mission, lengthening your reach?

ericaprosser said...

x-out the word 'become'. typo.

Agent B said...

Hi Erica.

Don't take any of this personally, but I think these are the wrong questions to ask.

Maybe "how long/deep is this friendship/relationship going to last?" and "where/when will the CEO use them?"

"Coming out" implies that this whole relationship is fake and a ruse to get them to "join the mission" (church membership?).

Missionaries have a long history of being there for someone, then leaving.

Maybe being there for the long run, even a lifetime, is the mission we are called to. I don't know.

But if we set a time table for things to happen, they will fail. It will be man (us) doing things and not the CEO.

Jack (Miller) and I have had many discussions on making things happen vs. letting them go. Hope he'll weigh in on this.

And don't get offended by this Erica. I think I know your heart. Thanks for being who you are.

Keep this conversation going. These are rambled thoughts of mine and I never have all the right answers.

ericaprosser said...

not offended at all. maybe my question should have been "how does secret agent reproduce one's self?" are you training other agents? or is that even part of your mission? just really interested, not suggesting anything at all.

Agent B said...

I don't know if reproducing myself is the goal either.

God knows there doesn't need to be any more freaked out individuals out there. :)

Seriously, I know what you are asking. The church that fired me several years ago used that phrase "reproduce one's self". And I suppose that's a way of saying "share the gospel" thus "creating new believers".

But I still don't like that phrase because it's kin to the whole fathering movement (let me "father" you, let me be your spiritual daddy, etc).

I survived that fathering stuff and I think it's unhealthy because true relationships may have a "fathering" moment at the start. But it must evolve into a true equal friendship (John 15) where nobody is more authoritative than the other.

But that's a WHOLE different blog post...

Thanks for your continued comments. I should really add you to the local agent network links. Baird/Clyde is just a bedroom community of the fair mother city, right?

Pastor Phil said...

"Coming out" implies that this whole relationship is fake and a ruse to get them to "join the mission" (church membership?).

Bro! That's just rad!

Will you be my spiritual father?

ericaprosser said...

I myself am a recent survivor of the fathering 'movement.' But if we (through a church or not) are not making disciples of Jesus, like He said to do, who is doing it? The ones who call THEMSELVES the fathers? Not in my (possibly limited) experience.

I think I may not fully understand your mission/goal. Please advise...

Agent B said...

I am trying to effectively bring jesus to those who won't fit into the church mold, mostly due to cultural differences between poverty and middle class.

And I'm trying to serve those who seem to have been forgotton about.

Ex: my neighbors the Sanfords are not christians. But I learn more about sacrificial giving and love from them than anywhere else. They have invited my family and I into that private "inner circle" of their lives. I have high hopes for them. All in the CEO's hands and timing.

Obi-Wan, on the other hand, has been a faithful church member for 53 years. But now he's an invalid. And he only hears from his church about once a month when some guy brings by tapes of the sermon. Or the mission ministry sent him a card (to his house) for being in the hospital.

Disciples. Are we to make others disciples of our teachings or can we become disciples of theirs?

Or maybe both. I learn far more from Obi-Wan & the Sanfords than I'd ever expect.

I guess they're my disciples. But maybe I'm theirs.

Hope that answers you somehow.