This past week we had a great opportunity at Omaha Bible Church to do ministry in a community that we have been trying to reach with the gospel for a number of years. God has graciously opened a door for us in North Omaha, a section of the city that our church building borders. It was a great time and it seems like even more doors are opened for further community impact. Nightly we had teams fix broken houses, serve food, conduct adult Bible studies and children’s studies. Then on Saturday we had a picnic in the park for the neighborhood where I got the opportunity to preach the gospel. This was a great time.
However, about 5 minutes in a guy walks up and stops about 5 feet from me. He proceeds to take off his shoe while staring me down. He raises it up and we are all thinking about George Bush in Iraq last year. I just looked away and thought “whatever, I can duck” and kept going. He then started making some noise and one of our leaders gently inquired if he was ok.
Thankfully he stuck around. However, he was not quiet.
At several points he piped up with either questions or discuss (refute) what I was saying. This became very helpful for me. I was able to answer what he was saying with what the Scriptures say. And he broke things up a bit. The other folks were definitely following the interaction. He became a jester of sorts. It was good.
Then afterwards I was able to talk with the guy and some of our leaders spent some more time with him. He was fed and he heard the word clearly.
In my view this scenario is an open air dream. You have the opportunity to proclaim the message and then you have someone asking questions related to what you are saying and then you can answer them. Further, the jester was being less than curtious and kind, so the crowd would (presumably) sympathize with the preacher. It is a win-win.
I will say that things would be quite different in the gathering of the church on Sunday am. I would not tolerate persistent questioning, refuting, or insulting when the Word of God being proclaimed in the church. I do think there is a difference in the two settings. In this case ushers or elders should step up and take care of the disturbances.
In this case though, it was a good thing. And I praise God for sovereignly bringing this guy there.
I have encountered hecklers in other venues (prison, public setting, etc) and found them to be equally helpful. If you also have encountered this, either in preaching or hearing or heckling!, I’d love to hear from you.