Lately, Nazarene pastor Gary Pierce, Jr. has been standing behind a different kind of pulpit. This pulpit is not made of wood or plexiglas, but rather slabs of concrete. As a part of the X-treme team led by Rick Willison, Gary spent August 31 – September 19 in Kenya.
The X-treme team is a team of evangelists who demonstrate strength and endurance to the glory of God. They smash walls of concrete with their arms, break baseball bats on their thighs, tear up phone books, bend steel re-bar in their mouths and roll up skillets like flour tortillas. Gary says, “We have fun and we tell people about Jesus. It’s what we want to do.”
This time the X-treme team traveled with four members. As a former semi-pro football player, Rick Willison is formidable physically although he is slowly going blind because of a genetic disease. In his book, A Warrier’s Witness: A Prayer for Godly Character in Post-Modern Times, he writes that FAITH is an acronym for Fantastic Adventures in Trusting Him. He and his team have many incredible stories from their travels in trust.
The second member of the team is Rick’s brother Tim, who is also known as T-Dawg. He is also blind, more so than his brother, and walks with a cane or with a hand on the shoulder of a teammate. Even so, he helps to move bricks and set up events. With a quick smile and laugh, he demonstrates the power of God to overcome sour attitudes which can arise from life’s circumstances.
Eldon Kelley, pastor and former firefighter, joined the team when a regular member was ill and Rick needed someone to fill in. Despite having been burned doing one of the stunts, he continues on. Why? He has seen lives changed. There say over 50,000 people have made decisions for Christ during the first seven years of the ministry.
Gary, pastor of the Desert Springs Community Church of the Nazarene in Moses Lake, Washington, is the quietest member of the team. He can personally testify to the power of God to overcome addictions and change destructive attitudes. He often gives the sermon after the presentation.
As you can imagine, the X-treme team goes to many different types of venues when they travel. Evie Gardner said she was very impressed by their versatility in speaking with many varied groups. They spoke to a group of children in the Nazarene elementary school in the Kibera slum. The children smiled as they verified the baseball bat was real before it was broken. The team also led a two-day Battle Cry seminar (for men only) for the Nairobi Central District and spoke to the district youth and Africa Nazarene University (ANU) students.
Mark Pitts, deputy vice-chancellor for Academic Affairs at ANU, said, “The X-treme team was a great change of pace for our students. The team members are inspiring in overcoming their own handicaps and in their witness to the power of the Lord to help young people overcome the things that tempt and distract them.”
Rick and the others decided to leave the relative comfort of Nairobi for the last few days of their trip. They chose to forgo Kenya’s renowned game preserves and instead distributed food and hope to small Maasai villages.
One particular day, which Tim related, will remain in their memories forever.
They started the day with four hundred 55-pound bags of Unamix. This food product is a mix of soy, maize and sugar used to make porridge. Word spread that they were in the area with free food. A line formed of more than a thousand people. Rick and Tim started tossing the bags from the storage area out to their teammates who passed them on to individuals one at a time.
After several hours, one of the people outside asked how many bags were left. Rick and Tim counted the bags. They had eight piles with five bags each. They reported that and then kept passing the bags out to the masses. Later they were asked again how many bags were left. Once again they counted. This time they had five stacks with eight bags each. They continued passing out the food. More time passed and they were asked again how many bags were left. This time there were four stacks with ten bags each.
At this point in recounting the story, Tim smiled and said, “I know Rick and I can’t see, but we can feel.” After this third time of counting the bags, the stock began to go down and they eventually ran out near sunset.
Be X-treme in your faith and experience the fantastic adventure God has planned for you.