A Conversation with Clay Hearn
Another Day Along the Way
Monday, June 15, 2009
Another day,
I am enjoying the interviews. Being nosey is fun. Especially if we are given the honor of asking people we respect, people we trust, people from whom we seek to learn. That's how it is with Clay Hearn. Clay is my friend. Clay is a young man I view as a true follower of Christ. Join us in the journey as Clay tells us about his recent travel.
Chris: Talk to us about your recent mission trip. Begin by telling us what motivated you to go.
Clay: Well I am a bit of an adventurist, so that was almost motivation enough. But really, the Lord laid Sudan on my heart and I couldn't get rid of it. There isn't really an event that stands out in my mind as the point when I received the call to go. It was much more subtle. The desire developed over a couple of years while I was in college. Eventually, I realized that there was a huge need in Sudan that very few people were willing or able to meet. After that I felt like I didn't really have a choice but to go and help.
Chris: Where did you go, and how long did you stay?
Clay: I went to East Africa and focused on Southern Sudan. I stayed in East Africa three months.
Chris: What was your role while there?
Clay: I assisted another worker there in the planning and implementation of a school and church building project, along with several feeding programs.
Chris: What was God saying to you personally as you ministered?
Clay: Well, at first I think He was just pulling me out of the busy-ness of American life so that I would slow down and hear Him. I am very active in a lot of things in my community, so much so that I think I was neglecting the most important thing, my relationship with Christ. Once I acknowledged that and started listening, He took me on a survey of His Word and gave me the big picture of the Redemption Story. I had never really put all the pieces together in a way that made sense. When I finally got the big picture, it was mind-blowing.
Then He took me back to the Acts and the Letters for closer look at Christian living and the church. There He showed me the importance of holiness, righteous living. I realize this is impossible because we are imperfect beings. But the Holy Spirit is there to remind us and empower us to walk away from temptation and resist sin. I think sometimes we in America give ourselves over to some sin that we find hard to overcome. Maybe we have been too desensitized by the world, but we often seem to play the grace card and quit trying. We certainly have grace through Jesus Christ, but it doesn't remove the fact that we should still resist our sinful nature. I think I was that way and maybe I still am to a degree, but I don't want to be that way and I have come a long way in understanding that in the last three months.
He also showed me that Christ is the only one that saves. You can dig all the wells in the world, feed all the children, and solve all the problems, but at the end of the day, if you aren't Jesus to people and don't tell them of His Good News, they will still die. There is hope in that too. Because it is impossible to feed all the children and solve all the problems. But as the Body of Christ, we can be Christ and share Christ all over the world. All it requires is relationship.
Chris: How can what you learned reshape your thoughts and beliefs and behavior here in America?
Clay: As I said earlier, I think perhaps that we have been desensitized and we have given up some crucial areas. We are afraid to be Christians in public. We try so hard to fit in and look like the rest of the world without being like the world that we have rendered ourselves combat ineffective for the Kingdom. We are afraid of offending people so we avoid saying and doing things. The reality is the Gospel can be offensive to those who are so opposed to it because it challenges their way of life. Just look at Paul. He was certainly offensive to the Pharisees, but it didn't stop him from proclaiming the Gospel and so many were saved because of it. I think I need to be more bold and more open as Christian here in America. I need to stop trying to fit into the mold of a typical American Christian. I need to be more active in sharing the Gospel in my community.
Chris: What are your thoughts about ways the American church can be more true to our Biblical purpose?
Clay: We can start being the church rather than just going to church. We can stop fighting amongst ourselves as believers; stop dividing over every disagreement. How are we ever going to love and forgive those against us if we can't even forgive each other? We need to demonstrate love and forgiveness to the world. We need to unite as the Body of Christ. The Word only talks about "the Body of Christ," not the bodies of Christ. It seems to me with all our denominations, nondenominations, and churches on every street corner (at least in the Bible Belt), we each try to be the Body individually. That's not what I think the Lord intended. If we would come together with a common goal, to love God and love others, I think we would be more true to our Biblical purpose and we would do real damage to the enemy. I know that sounds idealistic, but so does the greatest commandment given to us by our King, to love God and to love one another.
To contact Clay or to find out more:
Clayton G. Hearn
PO Box 304
Franklin Springs, GA 30639
706.498.2213
clayhearn@gmail.com
http://clayhearn.wordpress.com
Along the way,
Chris Maxwell
Powerful Statement: Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen to what it intends to do with you. (Parker Palmer)
Monday, June 15, 2009
Another day,
I am enjoying the interviews. Being nosey is fun. Especially if we are given the honor of asking people we respect, people we trust, people from whom we seek to learn. That's how it is with Clay Hearn. Clay is my friend. Clay is a young man I view as a true follower of Christ. Join us in the journey as Clay tells us about his recent travel.
Chris: Talk to us about your recent mission trip. Begin by telling us what motivated you to go.
Clay: Well I am a bit of an adventurist, so that was almost motivation enough. But really, the Lord laid Sudan on my heart and I couldn't get rid of it. There isn't really an event that stands out in my mind as the point when I received the call to go. It was much more subtle. The desire developed over a couple of years while I was in college. Eventually, I realized that there was a huge need in Sudan that very few people were willing or able to meet. After that I felt like I didn't really have a choice but to go and help.
Chris: Where did you go, and how long did you stay?
Clay: I went to East Africa and focused on Southern Sudan. I stayed in East Africa three months.
Chris: What was your role while there?
Clay: I assisted another worker there in the planning and implementation of a school and church building project, along with several feeding programs.
Chris: What was God saying to you personally as you ministered?
Clay: Well, at first I think He was just pulling me out of the busy-ness of American life so that I would slow down and hear Him. I am very active in a lot of things in my community, so much so that I think I was neglecting the most important thing, my relationship with Christ. Once I acknowledged that and started listening, He took me on a survey of His Word and gave me the big picture of the Redemption Story. I had never really put all the pieces together in a way that made sense. When I finally got the big picture, it was mind-blowing.
Then He took me back to the Acts and the Letters for closer look at Christian living and the church. There He showed me the importance of holiness, righteous living. I realize this is impossible because we are imperfect beings. But the Holy Spirit is there to remind us and empower us to walk away from temptation and resist sin. I think sometimes we in America give ourselves over to some sin that we find hard to overcome. Maybe we have been too desensitized by the world, but we often seem to play the grace card and quit trying. We certainly have grace through Jesus Christ, but it doesn't remove the fact that we should still resist our sinful nature. I think I was that way and maybe I still am to a degree, but I don't want to be that way and I have come a long way in understanding that in the last three months.
He also showed me that Christ is the only one that saves. You can dig all the wells in the world, feed all the children, and solve all the problems, but at the end of the day, if you aren't Jesus to people and don't tell them of His Good News, they will still die. There is hope in that too. Because it is impossible to feed all the children and solve all the problems. But as the Body of Christ, we can be Christ and share Christ all over the world. All it requires is relationship.
Chris: How can what you learned reshape your thoughts and beliefs and behavior here in America?
Clay: As I said earlier, I think perhaps that we have been desensitized and we have given up some crucial areas. We are afraid to be Christians in public. We try so hard to fit in and look like the rest of the world without being like the world that we have rendered ourselves combat ineffective for the Kingdom. We are afraid of offending people so we avoid saying and doing things. The reality is the Gospel can be offensive to those who are so opposed to it because it challenges their way of life. Just look at Paul. He was certainly offensive to the Pharisees, but it didn't stop him from proclaiming the Gospel and so many were saved because of it. I think I need to be more bold and more open as Christian here in America. I need to stop trying to fit into the mold of a typical American Christian. I need to be more active in sharing the Gospel in my community.
Chris: What are your thoughts about ways the American church can be more true to our Biblical purpose?
Clay: We can start being the church rather than just going to church. We can stop fighting amongst ourselves as believers; stop dividing over every disagreement. How are we ever going to love and forgive those against us if we can't even forgive each other? We need to demonstrate love and forgiveness to the world. We need to unite as the Body of Christ. The Word only talks about "the Body of Christ," not the bodies of Christ. It seems to me with all our denominations, nondenominations, and churches on every street corner (at least in the Bible Belt), we each try to be the Body individually. That's not what I think the Lord intended. If we would come together with a common goal, to love God and love others, I think we would be more true to our Biblical purpose and we would do real damage to the enemy. I know that sounds idealistic, but so does the greatest commandment given to us by our King, to love God and to love one another.
To contact Clay or to find out more:
Clayton G. Hearn
PO Box 304
Franklin Springs, GA 30639
706.498.2213
clayhearn@gmail.com
http://clayhearn.wordpress.com
Along the way,
Chris Maxwell
Powerful Statement: Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen to what it intends to do with you. (Parker Palmer)
