Kingdom Greatness Embodied

In my last blog I wrote about my 6 day, 44 mile pilgrimage with my friend and coaching client, David Juliano. David was born and raised in middle Tennessee. Despite his mountain upbringing, he’s a Brit at heart. His wife Alison was born in England and two of his sons have attended school there. Henry, one of their boys, actually lives in the beautiful city of York. Through a series of God-ordained circumstances, David and his family have befriended the Reverend Nicky Gumble. Nicky and his wife Pippa are the former leaders of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) Church in downtown London and the founders of the Alpha course. This church has been a shining light of vitality in a culture where less than 12% attend church. This is up from 8% in 2018! The Alpha course uses a small group format to help people of any or no faith back group consider the Christian faith. Last year, 81,000 courses were run worldwide with more than two million people participating! There is no doubt that Nicky, Pippa, HTB and Alpha have been instruments used of God to help see this upward trend.

For decades, Nicky has been one of my hero’s of the faith from afar. His leadership drips integrity, innovation, and passion while remaining true to biblical and historically orthodox Christianity. So, you can imagine my surprise when David asked me a few months before leaving for our Peak Wesley Way pilgrimage, “Hey Jorge, would you like to have a coffee with Nicky Gumble when we are in London?” I could not say “Yes” fast enough. Now a dirty little pastor’s secret. We are not only as competitive as anyone, we also love rubbing shoulders with “famous people.” In the weeks before the trip, I’d name drop Nicky to my preacher buddies. “Oh yeah, did I tell you that when we get to London, we are having coffee with Nicky Gumble?” My preachers friends went gaga. They almost all gave me questions to ask Nicky.

So, on Thursday morning, May 29th, David, his son Henry and I took an Uber from our hotel to Hyde Park, the famous garden in the city center of London to meet Nicky for a coffee. Even though we left with plenty of time, the traffic was awful because of rehearsal by King Charles’ horse brigade for the celebration of the King’s birthday. It gridlocked an already busy London traffic. Didn’t they know I was meeting Nicky Gumble that morning? We showed up about 45 minutes late and I was sure we had missed out on our opportunity to spend time with him. What would I tell all my preacher friends? Isn’t that sick of me? But to our surprise when we arrived at the coffee shop in Hyde Park, Nicky was sitting at a picnic table with a cup of coffee chatting it up with two friends.

He warmly greeted us and offered to buy us coffee and snacks. After getting a couple of coffees we sat down to talk. Nicky launched right in. He turned to David’s 23 year old son, Henry and said, “Henry, tell me about yourself.” His focus for the next 15 to 20 minutes was learning about Henry’s current life situation, his hopes and dreams and his faith. Then he turned to David and launched out into finding out how David’s family of six were doing, and how David’s life and ministry were holding up. Only then did he turn to me and ask me equally probing questions about my life and ministry. By the time, Nicky’s kind questioning of the three of us was done, more than an hour had gone by and he needed to leave to record a podcast. We prayed together, took a picture, embraced and parted ways and I never got to ask my many questions!

In the days since then, I have been pondering our encounter with this amazing godly leader. Here’s what I have concluded. Nicky is a faithful apprentice of Jesus who has walked so consistently with God that he has become profoundly and genuinely “other’s focused.” Nicky can call any Christian leader, ministry or organization on the planet and have immediate attention, but during those hours in Hyde Park, no one was more important to him than Henry, David and Jorge, and in that order. I was most impressed that he was genuinely interested in a young man who is struggling to find his way in this world. More than anything, that amazed me. Better yet, it made a huge impression on me. Nicky loves people. No wonder God has used him to reach millions of people on this planet. His love for God is so genuine and authentic that it splashes out onto whoever is standing right in front of him. Nicky Gumble is filled with holy love for God and people. He embodies what it means to be great in the Kingdom of God. He personifies 1 John 4:7-12 (NIV) beautifully:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Thanks Nicky for your profound witness of a life that gloriously expresses God’s love for all people. May this be said of all who follow after our Rabbi Jesus.