Last week on, America’s Got Talent, there was a guy who walked on stage to sing named, Andrew.
Andrew grew up an outcast. He looked to music as a place to escape. He wasn’t interested in the things most people his age were interested in. He was on the fringe. Until there was this little talent show….and then the unexpected happened:
So many questions arise when I watch this clip. How is it that someone like Andrew goes unnoticed for so long? How is it that his parents don’t even know the talent he is hiding? How do you teach yourself to sing Soprano like that?
But the biggest question….how many other students are there just like Andrew? Students so full of potential and talent — who beneath an unusual exterior lies great hope and great dreams….just waiting to be discovered and encouraged.
And the best part….you and I get to be in on the discovery.
In this clip I am reminded that my ministry must be about knowing students and looking for opportunities for them to discover and use their God-given talents and abilities . I’m also reminded that with students (as with adults) there will always be those who hang out on the outskirts, at home on the fringe of a group.
We cannot forget that we are called to the fringe as much as we are called to those we consider “the core”.
On the fringe stands the Goth-looking opera singer, or the painter, or the teacher or the missionary.
Or it could be that the student on the outside, the one that nobody else believes in….He is the one, who through surrender to Jesus Christ, may just change the world.
Well, if it doesn’t break you, it might just make you, no?