I don't think anyone would say I was a traditional pastor when I was pastoring 
full-time. Having an entrepreneurial mindset, I was always "forward looking" and seeking God's guidance for my church's future. I've said many times that the church is 10 years behind what God is doing. My sons say 40 years behind. By the time the leadership of the local church concludes that something is a good idea, God has moved on because society and the world has changed. Nonetheless, the church launches into ineffective activities that are no longer profitable for the Kingdom of God, and lackluster results frustrate believers and cause them to harden to change.
When I brought Christian Rock concerts to my community in the late 80s I received so many nasty letters from local pastors that we started 
what we called "The Nasty Letter File." My grammar girl wife loved to take her red pen and correct the grammar and spelling in the letters. She always wanted to correct them and send them back, but I wouldn't let her. Some of those letters were pretty vile and all were terribly nasty. I learned early in life that if you're going to be a trendsetter - you're going to be out front. If you're out front - you'll get shot first. No problem. I've got a kevlar hide.
When I led a men's bible study at the church I did something that might sound bizarre, but it proved a great point about how the church reaches out to the lost world. The guys were all gathered in my office and we were ready to start our study.
I went to my file cabinet and pulled out a file. The file was full of pictures of a very beautiful, very sexy and very naked woman who was in a James Bond movie. The guys were a little surprised that I was passing out soft porn pictures for them to gaze upon, but I had a point. I wanted them to take a really good look, and they did.
When they had viewed the portfolio of pictures, I asked, "Would she be welcome in our church?" Of course, all of the guys smiled and said, "Absolutely!" "Really?" "YOU BET!" Then I dropped a bomb on them. I said, "She's a man."
The beautiful and sexy woman in the pictures was a man with a sex change. The point of my little exercise was to demonstrate to the men that the world the church functions in is not necessarily black and white. The study went on with a series of questions.
- Would she be welcome in God's kingdom?
- Did Christ die for her/him?
- Would she be welcome in our church?
- If so, if she wanted to marry, would she marry a man or a woman?
- If she married a woman, would that create confusion?
- If she married a man, would that be considered a homosexual marriage?
- Would she be allowed to work in the nursery?
- Would we allow her to sing with the praise team?
- Would she be allowed to teach Sunday school, bible study, any study?
Well, I told you I wasn't a traditional pastor. My whole goal was to get the men to think. We don't live in a 50s world. We live in a very complicated world with a lot of diverse needs and circumstances. In this complicated world, one thing remains constant, every man, woman, boy and girl needs to know the life saving grace of Christ.
When I was working in prisons, the prisoners used to beg me to start a church
where they would be welcome. Ironically, I had numerous former inmates in my church. We didn't make a big deal out of it. I didn't see their past as a condition to keep them out of the Kingdom of God or the local church. The church went on to lead large numbers of people to Christ in this country and around the world, and along the way, many learned that the world is no longer black and white. Sometimes, it's gray.
Oh, and by the way, those rock concerts went on for over a decade and led hundreds of teens and adults to Christ. Ironically, at least half of the churches that sent nasty notes to me ultimately sponsored their own Christian concerts. No apologies were ever received in our office, but I didn't expect any either.
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