Something More Important

I was given a new title recently. It was not one I had ever expected to receive. I’ve had lots of titles over the years. I’ve been minister of music. I’ve been evangelism director. I’ve been Sunday school teacher. I’ve been summer missionary. I’ve been youth leader. I’ve been seminarian. I’ve been church planter. I’ve been pastor. I’ve been professor. I’ve been missionary. I’ve been guest lecturer. I’ve been interpreter. Over the years, I have been licensed to preach twice. I’ve been ordained. I’ve been commissioned six times. I’m currently in the process of having my ordination recognized by another denomination.

While I have embraced those events setting me apart for Christian service, I can’t say any of those events quite measure up to the new title I was recently given.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a family-friendly drag show. It was not the first time. Since helping Union County, NC host its first Pride festival last year, I have been around a company of drag queens a number of times. I’ve served as a buffer between them and protesters. I’ve helped with security for various events. I had the opportunity to participate in a story hour. Every time I have been to a drag show, however, I have been called out by the drag queens to let everyone know that I am a pastor. That is normally followed by something on the order of, “Oh, but he’s the good kind.” My wife is also an ordained minister, and she has been called out in the same manner on more occasions, as she has been to more events that I have.

This last one, however, was a bit different from the norm. The queen calling us out had something a little different to say, this time around. “You know, Billy Graham was called a pastor to presidents. Chris is pastor to drag queens, and I think that is more important.” So do I. I was not expecting anything quite like that. One of the queens wrote my wife this week, telling her that we probably don’t understand just how much of an impact our supportive presence among this community has had. No, I probably don’t. From my perspective, all I have done is to be present. All I have done is to tell them that they are loved, that I see their humanity, that I see something honorable and good and kind in them. I’m not quite sure what to do with that title. It was as humbling as it was unexpected. It also gives my continued presence among these drag queens and the community around them greater weight and importance, greater responsibility.

At the end of that show, one of the attendees made a beeline for us and talked with my wife. She and her mother had been at the previous show and had witnessed our being named as pastors. They had watched us throughout the show. On this second time around, they watched us again. “Since you are our pastors, I need to let you know that my mom is facing treatment for cancer to begin on Wednesday.”

Put those two comments together, and our presence at that drag show was a sacred event. While protesters were standing outside on the sidewalk, God was moving within the drag show and allowing us the privilege to be ministers of Jesus Christ inside those walls, speaking grace instead of condemnation, and I think that’s more important.

— ©Copyright 2023, Christopher B. Harbin 

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