Keith Lancaster - Hearing Voices

Tuesday, October 10

The Guitar and the Pitch Pipe

by KeithLancaster on Tue 10 Oct 2006 04:45 PM CDT

Exactly 100 years after the recognized split between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, the North American Christian Convention (NACC) was held this summer in Louisville, KY. The theme of the conference was unity and it was bathed within an atmosphere of an earnest search for ways to restore fellowship. In this historic setting, two worship leaders and their respective teams joined forces to co-lead the entire conference. Eli Reyes (Christian church) and Ryan Christian (a cappella church of Christ) did a wonderful job of planning and leading this convention together.

It was interesting to find out that Eli is an Acappella fan (Acappella got to kick off the entire conference) and knew some of the same people I do. We both enjoy guitars, so I admired his impressive, hand-crafted, custom-built acoustic guitar. Both Ryan and Eli suggested that I lead “Awesome God” during the convention since they were planning to use my arrangement. On Thursday evening, I was thrilled to lead the entire assembly in a cappella worship singing “our God is an awesome God!” What a mountain top experience!

Later that evening, Jeff Walling did a masterful job of setting the stage in making a case for healing wounds and recognizing our common ground. He took his personal Bible, a gift from his mother and dedicated to his late father (also a minister) and exchanged it with Dave Stone, the preacher for the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville (20,000 members). Others followed suit, including elders, leaders and university Presidents. I’ll have to admit, I was in tears, realizing we were witnessing history.

Seeing all these men exchange their personal Bibles and demonstrating a desire for true fellowship impacted me greatly. I had not fully absorbed the moment -- this historic moment, before I was thinking of something very humorous. Considering the exchange of Bibles between these Christian leaders, the thought struck me that Ryan should have exchanged his old, used pitch pipe for Eli’s gorgeous hand-crafted guitar. This idea was hilarious to me! A worn out pitch pipe worth $2, for a $5,000 beautiful guitar? I shared this with my friends and enjoyed several belly laughs.

While at the Abilene lectures, I decided to contact Ryan and share my humorous thought (which was sure to give him a big laugh.) After telling him that he should have exchanged his pitch pipe for Eli’s guitar, I was stunned by his reply - “Do you know that actually happened?”

Apparently, Eli was so moved by the wonderful experience of fellowshipping, planning and leading worship together for this historic unity event, that he decided to show his love in a very real way. After consulting with his godly wife and seeking the blessing of his daughters, he gave his guitar as a gift to Ryan Christian, out of the deepest Christian love! (Ryan has been practicing guitar for one year.)

My humorous story has morphed into a wonderful and humble demonstration of brotherly love and a real-life commitment to what was important to Jesus (see John 17). Unity is not a fuzzy little option we have. The fact is, God made us one when we became a part of the one body. If we refuse to talk to each other, WE are separating what God has brought together and are perpetuating the evil of division. (Okay, sermon over.)