**Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to show bias or favoritism for one branch over another. Both of my brothers are Marines, though one is now a Sailor (Once a Marine, always a Marine.), and I have a very dear friend who is a Soldier. These are just the facts of this particular story.
My younger brother, Andrew, is currently a Marine recruiter, though his MOS is forward observer. He is really great as what he does...really great. Part of what makes him so great at getting recruits is this: he really believes the Marine Corps to be the superior branch. That might sound arrogant, but can you imagine wanting to buy a Browning shotgun from someone who is very outspoken about Remington being the best? No! And probably, the salesman would not enjoy selling Brownings because his passion is for Remingtons. So, since Andrew's passion is for the Marine Corps, and it is very evident, it makes possible recruits also feel that the Marines must be the best. The other day while I was speaking with him on the phone he began relaying to me a story of some nearby Army recruiters. Now, my experience with military is mostly limited to Marines, but I can say with assurance that each branch thinks they are the best. He became frustrated with these particular recruiters because they were lying to their potential recruits. He had heard the same fallacious claims over and over again from one recruit after another. Andrew went to speak with the recruiters and confronted them with lying to people. At first they denied it, and then once they were trapped they had to admit it.
On one of his visits to their office he heard mention that they were going to devote a ceiling tile in their office to the mascot from each high school in which they were allowed to recruit, and paint the mascot onto the ceiling tiles. "Why would you do that?!" was Andrew's response. "So that they feel at home when they come here to talk with us," was the reply he received. "Why would you want them to feel at home here? They are not Soldiers yet! We would never do that. I don't want them to feel at home. I want them to know that the Marine Corps is different from everything else. We will not bring the high school into the Marine Corps. We will take the Marine Corps to the high school." He stressed that he would not be bringing any part of the high school into his office. He feels as though the facts about the Marine Corps speak for themselves and need no gimmicks in order to attract recruits. Apparently, Andrew's speech was fairly convincing because he noticed they never did paint the ceiling tiles.
As I was listening to this story all I could see was the spiritual parallel. Do you see it yet? I'll give you a hint: It has to do with the gospel. Isn't this what we so often do in our culture? To make non-believers feel welcome, we bring their music and even philosophies into the church. So often, we water down the gospel and bring a little bit of the world into the church in order to make it feel more comfortable in hopes they will connect with it. But, the gospel is sufficient. It is powerful and needs no "help" from us in converting souls. Instead of preaching sin and repentance, so many churches are preaching "God is love". God IS love, but until we recognize our sin and repent of it, He is not love to us. He is wrath. (Romans 1:18) Instead of changing the gospel and painting the ceiling tiles of our churches with worldly philosophies, we should be changing the world with the gospel. Instead of bringing the world into the church by luring in the unsaved, let's take the gospel of Jesus out into the world!
As Andrew has a passion for the Marine Corps, let's truly have a passion for Christ and His gospel. Of course, we are superior to no one, but we do have confidence that the way of Christ is the only way that leads to eternal life. (John 14:6) Evangelism is much like recruiting. If Andrew just sat in his office and waited for people to come in, he might obtain a few recruits. But he doesn't do that. He gets out and drives to where the candidates are. We should do the same. Let's go to where the lost are, which is basically everywhere, and share the gospel. Andrew is just helping people find a career path. We have the key to eternal life and forgiveness and communion with God! How much more should we be out seeking "recruits", so to speak?
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