Round 2: Chick-Fil-A grand openings

On Jan. 8, I attended my first Chick-Fil-A grand opening. I waited 23 hours to claim my 52 free combo coupons smack in the heart of Louisville, Ky.

On March 19, New Albany, Ind., became my home for a 24-hour stint. But it would not just be my home. The plan was for me to go right at 6 a.m. and get a spot in the first 100. I would then monitor the crowd and call my wife when the count hit 65-70.

I arrived at 6 and could tell Laura would have to come soon. Very soon. I learned that I was in the 60s and immediately called Laura to tell her to leave. She had to gather a few things and make sure our neighbors, Ryan and Kathleen Hanley, were ready to take our 8-month-old, Timothy.

Meanwhile, the count continued to rise. Groups of two and three steadily joined the line. The count hit 80, then 90. Still no Laura. I was acne.

Forty-five minutes after my call, she arrived. I thought she was No. 98 in line: it turns out she was 92. Close call, but now we were set (with me at 64).

Refreshing time w/ my wife and three additional good conversations

Laura and I got our two-man backpacking tent set up, explored the parking lot a bit and then settled into our camping chairs. Over the 24-hour period, we were able to have some refreshing conversation time, which we both appreciate. We used a spiritual gifts survey Laura needed to fill out as a catalyst to gear our conversation toward spiritual matters.

We also participated in a few of the fun activities Chick-Fil-A provided. With the weather being far nicer — 70 degrees as opposed to 30 — there were several things going on, from board games to Cornhole to contests and giveaways.

In addition to this time w/ my wife, three conversations stuck out for me during the day.

1. Discussing the Gospel w/ an elderly gentleman.

Laura and I’s tent sat right next to an older gentlemen’s tent. We learned that he is a grand opening regular — which is not unusual — and made his way south from the Quad City area in Iowa.

We struck up a conversation w/ him around noon and learned that he was a retired machine shop worker. We learned that he was a member of an independent Baptist church. The conversation continued to other topics and then I asked the man the following question: “What would you say is the core of the Gospel?”

He paused … and then said Christ dying for sinful men was the core. He said men must believe in Christ…we don’t have anything good to present to God. And he said a life of continual repentance was needed.

I was tremendously encouraged by his answer. In a day when many church members attend “because they always have” or think men have to do good works to earn right standing with God it was heartening to hear someone express a right understanding of, and belief in, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. Establishing a relationship with a fellow church member.

Midway through the day, I struck up a conversation with Adam Graig. Laura had met his wife, Andi, the weekend before at a seminary function. I learned that the Graigs have been married a year. They met in China, where they were both serving as Journeymen with the International Mission Board.

I discovered that like me Adam is a Southern Seminary student, a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and an avid March Madness follower and participant. For a while we sat intermittently talking and working on respective homework assignments, sharing stories about professors, baseball and life in general.

Adam then moved the conversation into telling me about an evangelism initiative he is leading within our church. Once a month, he is leading a group to do door-to-door evangelism in the neighborhoods around our church. Our minister of evangelism is helping him with the initiative, but the church staff wants the effort to primarily spring up from members within the congregation. I will share this with our Bible Fellowship Group class Sunday.

I was blessed by this conversation and think it is an example of what Christian fellowship should look like: spiritual discussion mixed with other conversation.

3. Continuing a relationship with a former co-worker who is now a youth minister.

Finally, I was able to catch up with a fellow seminary student named Wes Kimble who serves as the youth minister at a local church. He and I worked together for about five months and in that time developed a pretty good friendship.

He shared about three difficult situations in the lives of students in his youth group. He also said he has had to revamp a lot of his teaching material as his students did not have as much biblical and theological knowledge as he expected. He is also having the chance to sit on elders meetings in the church, though his is not himself an elder, which he said has been invaluable.

I was struck, as usual, by his humility. I was also reminded that the local church is messy but remains God’s ordained means of growing His people in Christ-likeness.

Chick-Fil-A trip two: a smashing success

A day with my wife was reason enough to go for Chick-Fil-A round two. Adding the three interactions I mentioned above made the day particularly sweet.

And the 104 free combo coupons (52 each for my wife and me) didn’t hurt.