I know I shouldn't be, but I was a bit shocked today to read the above headline on a great site called Beat Portal It was an article about my previous post. You'll need to read the article for the rest of my post to make sense. (Just went on line at 7.42am Friday morning,and have noticed that the article has been removed!)
Admittedly my language in the previous post was very christian, with references to chunks from the bible and a sense of calling people to something that was more than just a job.
But in all honesty it annoys me when people write stuff and make assumptions about what we do here!
For starters what we do is nothing new; we have been coming to work on this island for 8 years and as a team we have lived here for almost 3, we love this island and the people on it. We are not plotting to set up a permanent year round ministry on the island - we have already done that, we started in 2005.
We love music, we love dance, we love holiday, we love the fact people can come here and have fun. The vast majority of people who come here do all this very safely and have a brilliant time.
The guy Zack says about our work that it "means clubbers in Ibiza next summer could be faced with preachers and proselytizers attempting to recruit them in clubs" - hardly a very accurate description of what we do. You're more likely to find us dancing than preaching. In fact we don't preach, well not in the sense of standing and telling people they are wrong.
How we show and express the love of Jesus is by helping; by looking after drunks (often a messy job!), helping people home, dealing with lost people, taking people to the police or doctors to help with Spanish translation, cleaning beaches - generally adding something to the west end of San Antonio. We're not judging it, rather serving the people there, free of charge and without asking for anything back. Lots of the bar managers and workers have expressed appreciation for what we do.
As to bringing spirituality to the island - yes I am for that. There are all sorts of spiritual practices on offer and I am relatively confident in the beliefs I hold and very happy to give others the opportunity to explore them.
In fact I would love to put on a chilled out weekly service in San Antonio, DJ's, visuals, food, coffee, reflection and calm with a spiritual message.
We have found that people want to pray. We don't push it or force it, but over the last 2 years we have prayed with and taken prayer requests from over 2000 people. Most aren't church goers, yet they still want to talk to God. What's that all about then?
Zack also said "We found this photo of Brian Heasley surrounded by girls on his blog, and were surprised to find the title ‘Lovely Ladies’." Why is it a surprise? They are lovely ladies - lovely, beautiful, hard working, fun loving people. I like them.
Anyway criticism always gets under your skin, but thats okay.
I love this island with a passion and I love the west end.
I also like the beatportal site, check it out Beat Portal
Thanks to Alana for pointing this out.
8 comments:
keep going mate, just ignore that kind of stuff. what he says you do or might do is the opposite to everything you actually do.
lovely response brian.
bless those who.....
has the actual article dissappeared?
I think so, I had one or two people leave comments in response that were very good. They were left by a few guys who had actually seen us at work, which was fantastic.
As soon as people even get a sniff of something Christian they have a certain idea in their head. I love that we are often accused of sterotyping people, but in the process of that we're stereotyped.
Truth is you guys mess with that nice idea of what a christian is. You actually do something that's not condemn them all to hell.
I love it - keep on keeping on.
You guys do an amazing job - I love the fact that you've been doing this for years, making a difference and keeping subtle (if that's the right word), and they only notice now cos the name Jesus is actually linked to it all.
Well at least you know you're doing something right if someone is kicking up a fuss - bring it on! WE WIN!
Now if you went around selling drugs or beating up people I wonder if that would be more acceptable.
It is said that ignorance is bliss, but in this case, ignorance is an annoyance.
I love that you love loving the lost, drunk, stoned, hurt, dangerous, smelly, sad, lonely, dirty people that you come into contact with in Ibiza.
Keep doing what you do best Brian. Love!
Perhaps you could offer to have them come join you to see what actually happens. That way they could put their money where their mouth is!
I think it just shows how much people are still wounded by the church. It's sad. But you guys are working for all sorts of redemption, you know.
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