My Calling

Every year on the drive home from Annual Conference my head is full of ideas. Mainly, ideas about how to make Annual Conference suck less. But, sometimes, however, I get real ideas. Last year, on the way home from Conference I solidified my calling to young adult/college ministry.

This year, I was drinking Mt. Dew and listening to some Iron Maiden to stay awake and it hit me. I think perhaps I have stumbled upon something real for my life OR have come up with an idea solely based on sleep deprivation and Hwy 13 wind in my ears.

Metal Edge United Methodist Church
"We Pray in the Pit"
"Shreading the Gospel to the World"

That's right, Iron Maiden, Mt. Dew and perhaps a God-nudge, have lead me to the dream of creating a church, a UNITED METHODIST church, for the heavy metal community. We would set up in an abondoned warehouse downtown or an old storefront saloon or something. We would sing our praises in drop D tuning and double bass drums.

Picture this, a come as you are church, communion every week, covenant discipleship groups, homeless outreach ministry, and, every Sunday morning worship is a rock show. With a mosh pit, with pyrotechnics. But, MORE IMPORTANT, also with a relevant message to the group perhaps most shunned by modern mainline Christians, the metalheads. Metalheads are the most loyal people on the face of the planet. They rejoiced together when Metallica finally won the Heavy Metal Grammy. They cried together when Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed at his own concert. Why can't they worship together? Every church has at least one youth that dresses in big black pants. That's fine in high school, but when they grow up, they're still metal fans, and since being a metal fan as an adult is kinda looked down upon, I think a lot of these people leave the church or are going to churches that really don't facilitate any kind of discipleship.

Christian Metalheads deserve a place of worship that speaks to them, where they can come freely and be themselves, and where they can listen to killer heavy metal music.

When I went to see Metallica from five feat away from the stage, I was amazed. 50,000 people knew every word, every lick, every fill. I saw 50,000 people doing absolutely everything that James Hetfield told them to. Imagine that kind of devotion and dedication in your church.

Metal 'til I die, Brad