PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER
by Erwin Bourne—March 30, 2002
Are you a “hale fellow well met” sort of a guy? Are
you popular? Are you a good mixer? Do you have
friends the world around? Are you a best seller? Are
you a great public relations man? I have one more
question: Don’t you know that friendship with the
world is hatred toward God? (James 4:4 NIV).
As a student in Bible college, I was not a
renegade—but I was definitely unconventional. It was
regulation for the boys to wear a sweater or suit coat
and a tie. I wore an overall jacket, jeans, engineer
boots and a bow tie. Somehow, I got by, perhaps
because my mother was on the official church board.
But then I did wear a suit and tie when I sang in the
men’s quartet.
HOLINESS DOESN’T SEEK TO BE ODD.
HOLINESS SEEKS TO BE LIKE GOD.
Would a church today hire John the Baptist? No, they
wouldn’t touch him! He wore clothes made from camel’s
hair, had a leather belt around his waist, and ate
locusts and wild honey (Mk. 1:6). His message was as
rough as his dress:: a no-nonsense, bare-fisted
challenge to repent. God was on his way
Personally, as a young preacher, I got collared. It
wasn’t like my school days. Now I must buy (and wear)
a J. C. Pennys dress hat. To match it, I needed a top
coat (like regular ministers wore). But when my
ministry took me to South Dakota, my cowboy genes
kicked in and I bought an “open road” hat more to my
liking. When passing through Lincoln, Nebraska, I
bought a lovely western-cut gray suit much to my
liking. The worst thing about the suit—it had a
scarcely detectable green thread amongst the gray.
When totally independent of church regiment, I always
wore boots, a wide leather belt, and a Stetson hat.
Down in Guatemala I caused consternation among
missionaries. On Sunday I was secreted away to an
indigenous village so as not to molest the
decent-and-in-order arrangement of things in the
capitol. I’ve been a public relations disaster.
Today I have no legs!!
—Erwin and Jean Bourne