Restaurant
Terrorists and Pentecostal Scrooges:
An Open Letter to My Pentecostal Family
By Brenda Barros
November 26, 2001
Dear
Pentecostal Family:
The
reason I am writing this is because it is something that we, as Pentecostals,
should be more aware of. My prayer and hope is that through this letter your
eyes may be opened to certain actions and their ramifications.
I
just graduated from high school and am now attending San Jacinto Community
College in Houston. As the semester has progressed, I've had the opportunity to
make many new acquaintances. Sometimes as I'm talking to different people, I
feel the Lord nudge me to speak to them about Him. Some people want to listen,
others don't.
About
a month ago I was speaking to “Jessica,” a young lady in my gym class, and I
felt the Lord impress me to share His great salvation. I began to speak to her
about the Lord, but she stopped me with a question¾was
I Pentecostal? I said that I was. She had a story to tell.
She
started telling me about how she was a waitress at a Wings n' More restaurant,
and that the Pentecostal guests were the rudest people she encountered. They
were so rude, she said, that none of the other waiters and waitresses wanted to
wait on them, so they all would draw straws to see who “lost” by getting
stuck with the Pentecostals. (They can tell who is Pentecostal because of the
skirts and long hair, etc.)
I
was a bit taken aback by what she said. I then asked her forgiveness on behalf
of all the Pentecostals who wronged her. I also told her that we, as Christians,
have our faults and failures, but that they are not a reflection on Jesus
Christ.
We
each went our own way afterwards, and I thought a little bit on what she said.
The
next afternoon I went to work at the mathematics laboratory at my school. While
I was there I had the opportunity to speak to a young man who was telling me
about how he had problems with depression because of different issues in his
life, and how he had learned to cope with it.
I
started to tell him that I know of one solution to his problem¾Jesus.
As soon as I started he got this “been there done that” look on his face. He
said that he used to be a Catholic and that it didn't work for him. Besides
that, he worked in a restaurant and every Sunday night Pentecostals would visit
and act rude. He said that they were gossips, didn't tip well, and always
treated him and his colleagues with contempt and arrogance. He said that if that
is what being a Christian did to you, then he was better off as he was.
Paraphrasing
his words, he said, ‘Maybe they go to
church and find out how wicked they are and get angry about it and come take it
out on us. After they treat us the way they do, then they give us brochures
(tracts) and try to invite us to go to their church. I feel like laughing in
their face. Do they really think I'm going to want to go to their church after I
see the way they treat my coworkers and me?’
Well,
I apologized to him and was telling him that even if we make mistakes, Jesus
still works. While we were still talking, his friend “Frank” walked in. He
told me that Frank was a waiter at Red Lobster and to ask him what happened when
church groups came.
Since
I knew Frank, I asked him that. Having just arrived, he thought for about 15
seconds, and said, ‘The Pentecostals are really mean.’
Since
this was the third time in two days that somebody had told me that, I was no
longer shocked. At the same time I was shocked because it was exactly what his
friend said he would say.
I
started searching my life and heart and checking if God was trying to tell me
something. By that time I was pretty worried about the situation because the
problems they were telling me were issues that were hindering them from
following Christ. I gave it a lot of thought, but I had exams that week so I
didn't have time to do anything about it.
The
next week, I had a first-hand experience in their world. I participated in a
special induction ceremony at my college, and I invited some of my family and
friends to accompany me. My friend, who is Asian-Indian, got there and went to
sit with my family. My sisters were sitting right behind a Pentecostal lady who,
when she turned around and saw my friend, said, "Oh my gosh, is he going to
blow us up?" (She did not know that she was offending a fellow brother in
Christ¾my
friend is as Pentecostal as she is.)
Brothers
and sisters, highlighting our faults is not a particularly exciting task, but it
is something we must do if our actions are stopping someone from coming to
Jesus. As Paul wrote, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you
that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering forbearing one another in love;”
(Ephesians 4:1-2).
How
sad that an extra dollar tip and basic kindness from Christians might be all
some people need to come to Jesus¾yet
some of us are incapable of both.
Please
do not think that this letter’s intention is to point fingers at anybody.
Rather, my intention is to encourage everybody to walk worthy of the Name by
which we call ourselves, and that the name of Jesus be glorified through our
every act.
Sincerely,
Brenda Barros
ninetyandnine.com
ã
2001, Brenda Barros
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Brenda
Barros is a freshman at San Jacinto Community College in Houston, where she
is studying English so that she can be a high school teacher first, and then go
on to become a language analyst. She enjoys singing and playing the guitar, and
spending time with family and friends.
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