SKILLET ..... and the Coke and Tea Incident

I was reminded of this story last week when listening to a sermon about how Christians should react in certain situations. The story went like this: A man, dressed in a new suit, had a waitress spill two gallons of salad dressing all over him. He was furious! And caused a big scene in the restaurant. How many times have we reacted in a non-Christ-like way when faced with similar situations?

My story goes like this:

I used to promote concerts .... large events with Christian artists like DC Talk, Newsboys, Geoff Moore and the Distance, Steven Curtis Chapman, etc. In 1998, there was a new Christian band coming on the scene. They had just released their second CD and were beginning their tour. I booked them to play a show in Knoxville. You may have heard of them - SKILLET. Brand new and hardcore.

Shirley and I took the band to dinner about an hour and half before the show. If you've ever seen John Cooper, his wife Kory and the other band members, you know they look kinda ... scary. What do you expect? They're a rock band - with crazy, spiked hair, eyeliner (John), etc.
In East Knoxville, people don't usually dress that outrageous ...

We ordered tea, water and coke to drink. When the waitress brought a tray with six large drinks, she tripped .... fell forward and spilled, NO ... she dumped the drinks all over John. How would you react? Remember, he's about to go to work ... All dressed up .... Now covered with sticky coke, and tea. He was soaked.

His reaction was classic and Christian. Immediately he started laughing .... we all started laughing. He was kind, polite and accepting of the waitresses huge mistake. Everyone in the restaurant heard the commotion and watched with anticipation how he would respond. Within seconds, the manager arrived. Everyone was apologetic .... and John .... Well, he acted like Jesus. After a few minutes of conversation we told her who we were and that they were Christian musicians playing a concert down the road.

She called her teenage son and told him she was serving a band called SKILLET. Surprisingly, he had heard some of their music. She encouraged him to come to the concert. In fact, I made sure he got in free ... Following the concert ... he was saved.

In the middle of a bad situation John acted like Christ and a young man became a Christian. Just think, if she had never dumped tea and coke on John, her son may never have encountered Jesus Christ.

Next time something happens and you're about to explode ..... respond like Christ.

Because John was sticky we had to go back to the hotel so he could shower and change. Needless to say, we were late starting the concert .... so what! A young man came to Christ.

By the way, if you ever get the chance to hear them in concert ... GO! It'll be a Gospel presentation like you've never heard.