Randy Wray’s Blog

[Today's post is made possible by the gracious contribution of a second ghost writer.  As I promised the first ghost writer the post will be published sans editing.]

So this family rolls into our nation’s capital from the Left coast with tw small children, an athlete, and Randy.  We’re liking it though because their kids are the same ages as two of ours.  Randy is all smiles, has an inventory of creative shirts (which would later morph into suit & tie) & his sermons are definitely a departure from predecessors.

Since our hero is bi-lingual he is a perfect fit our congregation in Arlington.  We are one church but have a service in English and one in Spanish.  The children’s classes are combined so that there is plenty of interaction despite the language barriers.  Our deacons come from both Spanish speaking and English speaking.  One particular Sunday is quite memorable that Randy facilitates.  It is a Sunday morning we take time to acknowledge new deacons who have agreed to serve.  It involves the whole church and is a combined Spanish-English speaking service.  Even we non-Spanish speaking deacons make a promise to the church in both languages. The neatest part about the whole thing was that we had deacons standing up front originally from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Madagascar, Cambodia & the U.S.  African-American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Texan.  A true melting pot and everybody was thinking the same thing: God must be smiling on that day because surely this is what he had in mind for his people coming together to serve him.

Those of you who know Randy know he’s a gadget guy and loves the using the latest technology.  But for the microphone, our church wasn’t too technologically savvy.  RDW brings us into the 20th century (and eventually the 21st!) with sound boards & a sound system; mikes for the praise team; power point slides; projectors; guitars & amps (oops, OK, in another setting, we never quite got there on Sundays); etc.  One Sunday he has every kid’s attention because he uses a video clip from The Jungle Book.

Randy is also a handyman, of sorts, and of course a man’s man when it comes to tools.  I help him out one time installing a picket fence around his yard.  He’s got all the tools & plumb lines, boards & lumber, screws & power tools.  The people at Home Depot know him by first name – in both Spanish & English!  Later on he returns the favor at my house when I need to install a privacy fence along the back line of my property to block the assortment of old doors, blue plastic, large rocks & various other items seemingly imported from the Ozarks my neighbor has used as a makeshift fence.  It was then I learned the difference between my Martha Stewart tools and the tools of real men.  I’ve never been the same since.

The church flourishes in Arlington, not so much in numbers (this multi-cultural melting pot approach isn’t necessarily to everyone’s liking) but in depth of spirituality and vision for what God has called us to be as his people.  You’ve seen a theme in the recent days’ postings about how God has used Randy to broaden peoples’ perspectives and challenge our thinking. RDW challenges us to reflect the community in which we live, despite the fact our “community” is made up of around 7 million people literally from all over the world.  Those who have spent much time in the D.C. area know that most folks who live there are from “somewhere else,” there aren’t too many natives.  He challenges us to see ourselves not so much as individuals from all over who happen to live in D.C. but as a whole – diverse yet with a common purpose.

You can’t be around Randy for very long before music comes into the conversation, especially a guitar.  Music during the Sunday morning assembly became a much more integral part of our worship & praise, much beyond just the standard songs from a hymnal.  I even learned some basic chords that made my 5 year old think I was Phil Keaggy, but Randy was patient & generous and always encouraged me to keep at it.  We ended up moving away before Randy & Beth did.  As a testament to their generous & encouraging spirit they were one of the last families there on moving day helping to clean things out & load things up.  Presumably it wasn’t to hurry us on out of town.