The Leper Colony

I stole the title from a famous old movie called "12 o'clock High" starring Gregory Peck. It's an amazing movie on leadership and stuff and everyone should watch it.

Anyhow, this is not a commercial. There is a hot shot leader who thinks he is too good for everyone and doesn't respect Mr. Peck's authority. In response to this, the punk kid leader is put in charge of all the least-effective crew members on a plane named "The Leper Colony." The leader is told he has to make all these morons into the best unit or else risk dismissal.

Oddly enough, this is my dream, my quest, my mission, my goal. I would LOVE for my church to be a true Leper Colony, an Island of Misfit Toys, a League of Their Own, and soforth. In a way, I already have a glimpse of this working with Set Free, although I am not the pastor.

I'm sure that rich, successful people need Jesus just like everybody else, but that seems to be the only targets for church planting---after all, it worked pretty well for Rick Warren and Bill Hybels!

What if there were a group of idiots like me whose only goal in life was to avoid the trappings of the rich and powerful and successful? Who wanted to see a work that only God could do? Who wanted to move among the "lepers" of our day, as one of their own kind, and pull them to the only one who can cleanse them and make them new?

Well there just so happens to be one man foolish enough to go there, and his name is me!