The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the Giver of all good things.

Someday I need to tell the story of Rich Mullins coming to speak at our student-led Bible study in high school.

I should be grading papers right now. So what better time to distract myself by telling a story? Be forewarned, these are my teenage memories. You know how those can go. And I’m storytelling on Twitter. You know how that can go, too.

A little background… I grew up in Wichita, KS and was *steeped* in evangelical sub-culture. My family went to what was probably the largest SBC church in Kansas. Rich was part of another very large church in town. I’m sure our church softball teams were bitter rivals.

For the uninitiated, Rich is a CCM legend. Looked and sounded a little hippie to a kid raised in a conservative Baptist church. He had long hair. Probably liked being barefoot. I mean, he probably raised his hands in worship and stuff. Kinda like a Keith Green for my generation.

He was not that great of a vocalist. But man, that dude could write some killer songs. And he could play the mess out of the hammered dulcimer. If any person on the planet could make that instrument almost look cool, it was Rich.

(Subplot: As a teenager, I spoke briefly at a conference hosted by Rich’s church. I opened with a wisecrack about 2 Corinthians 13:12 being my favorite verse. He performed in concert later that day. He did great because of how well I opened for him, I’m sure.)

I could appreciate that he had gained some notoriety in the CCM world in the late 1980s. Most Wichita evangelicals claimed him as our own – at least a little bit. (We didn’t have much else going for us.) But I was usually more busy listening to Stryper, Petra, and White Heart.

I helped spearhead a student-led Bible study at my high school in a suburb just south of Wichita. I’m sure I’ve got jewels in my crown for those years (86-90). I carried my “Transformer” Bible to classes with me and I wore my “Solid Rock” t-shirts, too.

Anyway… It was probably 1989 or 1990 when someone from my high school had a connection with Rich and invited him to come lead our Bible study one week. He graciously accepted.

Secretly, this felt like some heavenly bonus points to balance the scales after another student used his week to teach everyone that suicide was an unpardonable sin. Plus, a little celebrity endorsement for our group was good for the ego, you know?

Honestly, I remember very little about the time he spent with us. Something about following Jesus. Something about following him into the wilderness. And something about proclaiming the good news the way Jesus did it. All from Mark 1, I think.

Here’s what I *do* remember: Rich offered some musings about verse 13 and Jesus being with the wild animals. He painted a picture of Jesus taming and then relaxing with the animals. Enjoying their company, even.

It wasn’t a picture of Jesus as lion tamer with chair & whip. It was Jesus *playing* with the animals, enjoying their company. It was Jesus finding joy and happiness in the wilderness with the wild animals. Not *using* creation, but taking delight in it as God originally intended

I don’t think this was even the main point of his lesson. But it is the only point I remember.

My friends and I talked for years about how Rich told us Jesus threw a party for the wild animals in the wilderness.

*Jesus partied with animals.*

It was a little weird for us back then. But, like I said, Rich was kind of a hippie. A free spirit. It figures he would like stories about the wilderness and animals.

It seems to me like as Rich’s career developed, he became more and more dissatisfied with the evangelical industrial complex. He spoke out against it and caused some of us to give him the side-eye. And to go back to our regularly scheduled CCM programming.

But I wish the younger me would have paid a little more attention to what Rich was saying back in the day.

Like when he talked about moving to a Navajo reservation to live and teach music to children. He was asked if it was really all about evangelizing and converting the Navajo.

And he said this:

"No. I think I just got tired of a White, Evangelical, middle class perspective on God, and I thought I would have more luck finding Christ among the Pagan Navajos. I'm teaching music."

Or like when he said this before a concert:

Rich was one of the good guys. We need more like him today.

/end