ChosenRebel's Blog

I don’t wanna be no half-hearted fan

I wanna be a total sell-out

Hands up in the front row

Wearing a half dozen of my favorite logo

You can see me with my eyes closed

Lost in the song like it’s a prayer

The kind of prayer that wakes up sleepers

To dreams bigger than anyone’s grim reapers

I honestly can’t wait to meet the lead singer

I mean, I feel like we’re close already

But it’s the difference between recognition nods and hugs

And I wanna be hugged

Eyes closing over one another’s shoulders like we’re best friends

I wanna be best friends with the lead singer

Call me groupie, follower, die-hard fan

I will never cut off my neon-green wristband

I wear it like Olympic gold earned for my country

I don’t want a single outfit unless it came off the merch-table

I am a t-shirt wearing, patch stitching, sticker sticking fanatic

And I get kick out you thinking I’ve sewn too many patches

Truth is I still need more to cover these holes

I keep finding spots that need stitching

Your eyes are eyes that need vision

If you can’t see my rips are causing friction

It’s like a fiber glass lion

Making sure that nobody’s alive in

Case they ever want to die

To themselves and become something else

But we’re still stuck in this quicksand

Hoping for a reaching hand

Of unwavering faith to pull us out of this murky mud mess

Mess of everything we’ve made, a mess of everything

We’ve made a mess of everything

But maybe you’ve noticed,

I don’t wanna be no lukewarm fan

Driven out like hearses that never knew the lyrics

The dance floor’s too big to fill up so we’re waiving the cover fee at the door

Just come on in and dance like you’ve never danced before

There’s a reason it’s my favorite band

And I know right now you don’t understand

But soon enough you’ll see,

And you’ll come into the show and start singing music with me

At least I hope you like ‘em too

They’re playing every kind of tune

You’ll never wanna leave the room

I swear it

All you gotta do is listen

It’s just a metaphor not fiction

It’s as real as my pulsing wrists

So I really must insist

That you hear I’m certain of this

There are no indifferent fans

It’s just one of those bands,

You love ‘em

Or you’ve never seen their show.

 

Marty Schoenleber, Jr. is the founding pastor of one church, the interim pastor of another and the church planting trainer/mentor of over 200 other church planting pastors. He is adjunct professor of Church Planting at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and has taught Preaching at the International School of Theology, and Evangelism at Moody Graduate School of Theology. He is also the Director of the Saint John’s Pastoral Center, a pastoral care and retreat center located in a growing number of Bed and Breakfast houses across the mid-west. His latest book is Picking a President: Or Any Other Elected Official (CrossBooks, [late May 2012]). To enjoy a free subscription to his blog, log-on to www.chosenrebel.wordpress.com, where you can post your comments, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest reflections on church planting, Biblical Expositions and musings about church, culture and spiritual formation. Follow Pastor Marty on twitter @1Chosenrebel4JC.