Be Kind to Your Server Because You Never Know

When my wife and I choose a drive-through restaurant, it's often because we're in a rush to get to our next appointment or event.

That's the way it was for me today.

After making some hospital visits, Rachelle and I went out for a quick lunch. We were both in a rush to make our next appointments, so we chose a drive-through restaurant.

I sometimes find myself impatient with servers when I'm in a hurry like today. After all, it's called "fast" food, right?

"Let's go!" "Come on!" "Hurry up!"

Those are the hidden thoughts that often race through my head, and on some unfortunate occasions, give birth to audible words.

Today there were some issues in communicating through the speaker at the drive-through. The woman listening to me order our food couldn't hear me, and I had to repeat myself two or three times.

Cars lined up behind us.

The delay was abnormal. I remained calm. I also spoke kindly into the speaker throughout the confusion, never allowing the little negative thoughts in my head to morph into some unkind words from my mouth.

Thank God.

Because when we pulled to the window, we were greeted with a huge, beautiful smile. The woman's face was literally beaming. She greeted me by name and said she'd be right back with our food.

"Who is that?" my wife asked.

I told my wife the food server's name and her story.

Our food server worked as a prostitute on the streets of Dallas, Texas.

She was born in Oklahoma but dropped out of high school before graduation. She moved to Dallas where she got involved in the drug culture.

From 1992 to 2012 she used cocaine and heroin and solicited to pay for the drugs. She was arrested multiple times in Dallas. Her record includes three misdemeanor convictions for solicitation, three felony DUI’s, and one felony conviction for cocaine possession.

After her last conviction in 2012, the State of Texas sent her to prison.

While in prison, she discovered she was pregnant. She had no idea who the father was. She considered an abortion, but her mom and dad convinced her to give birth by promising to take care of the baby back in Oklahoma while she finished her prison sentence in Texas.

So she gave birth to her son while in prison.

Her parents drove down and picked up the newborn infant from the institution's infirmary.

In May of 2014, this woman got out of prison and came to Oklahoma to be near her baby.

"How do you know all this?" my wife asks.

I tell her the rest of the story while we wait for our food.

A few years ago the church I pastor made a conscientious decision to change the direction of our church ministries. Rather than focusing on ensuring white, upper-income, nuclear Christian families were comfortable with "the way we do church," I intentionally led our people to become missional and strategic in reaching people who would never set foot in a traditional Baptist church.

Five years ago the woman serving us our food today would never have dreamed of attending Emmanuel Baptist Church of Enid, Oklahoma. The people at Emmanuel Baptist Church were remarkable, gospel-oriented people, but we were too focused on making ourselves comfortable in the church services rather than thinking of the lost and what they need to know Christ.

So we made some changes. Too many changes to describe in this post, but each change was intentional and missional.

We focused on creating an environment where people in need of Jesus would actually be drawn to learn more about Him through our church rather than be rejected or repulsed by our church.  

As we started making changes, a few people left to find a place where they could enjoy the comforts they'd lost. We understood that this might happen. Change is never easy. It's hard. However, when a church changes because of a desire to reach people for Christ, criticism can be endured. It's never personal; it's only for a Person.

In the fall of 2015, the woman serving us our food today began attending our contemporary Refuge worship service at Emmanuel Enid. She knew she was needing a change in her life, and the first person she thought of was God.

Somebody told her she ought to try the Emmanuel Enid Refuge service.

She came the first time and hid from others on the last row of the balcony. She didn't know what to expect, and she wanted to be able to leave quickly.

But to her surprise, she loved the contemporary worship service. It didn't feel like what she thought a church would feel like.

She cried during the message.

She learned of a recovery ministry through an announcement at the end of the Refuge worship service.

She began attending Emmanuel Enid's recovery support group the next week, and she continued coming to Emmanuel Enid's Refuge worship service. One month turned into six months; six months turned into a year, and one year has now turned into two years.

Last week she came to my office to introduce herself to me. She wept as she told me her story.

Christ has saved her. She wants to be baptized and join our church. She also is beginning classes next week to become the leader of a chemical addiction recovery group at Emmanuel Enid.

She works three jobs to support her toddler son. She gets help from her retired mom and dad in watching her child so that she can work those three jobs and pay her bills. One of those jobs is at the fast food restaurant we went to today.

The one with the faulty speaker.

As she handed us our food and we drove away, my wife said, "Wow, Wade, what an incredible story."

Yes, indeed.

I'm working this afternoon on a long post that is theological in nature, one that I believe will be a comfort to many Christians.

But as I sit in my office at the church building, eating the fast food I picked up today, I felt impressed to type this post.

I write to encourage those of us who know Christ to remember that God doesn't call His people to sit in a church to be comfortable. He calls us to be a part of a church that will make us missional.

His Kingdom is about people.

Prostitutes. Drug addicts. Prisoners. He turns His people into the kind of beautiful woman who waited on us today. That's grace. That's amazing grace.

Jesus came to set the captives free.

So be kind to your server because you never know.

You never know what Jesus is up to in their lives.