Come as You Are: A Joe Rodriguez Story
Interviewed and Written by Cindy Fetters and Melissa Rightmire
JESUS CALLS HIS FIRST DISCIPLES
“Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.
They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets.
Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
Mathew 4:21-22 NIV
Joe has a reputation for inviting people to church. You will recognize him by his Jesus T-shirt, Jesus cap, and infectious smile. He has invited hundreds of people to church over the years. Who does he invite? Anyone he is in a relationship with; work friends, family members, sometimes even strangers responding to the invitation written on one of his T-shirts: “Can I pray for you?”. Does he ever get rejected? “All the time, I always try to be their friend first.”
Joe accepted Christ as a young teenager after watching the transformation in his sister’s life. “I got interested in her faith, so I started investigating it myself and eventually I accepted Christ as my Savior.”
Raised in a traditional Catholic family, Joe’s sister’s salvation began a major culture shift in the family. At the time, he was “an angry teenager with a bad attitude. “I had a lot of hate and anger because of a bad relationship with my stepfather. But Christ changed that when I turned my life over to him. Everything changed. I started caring. “
Joe felt an urgent desire to tell everyone he knew about Jesus. “When I was a young Christian, I would sort of jump on them and say: “You’re gonna’ go to hell if you don’t get saved now!” Joe points to Matthew 10:33 as the driving motivation behind his desire to share his faith.
“Whoever acknowledges me before others,
I will also acknowledge before my Father in Heaven.
But whoever disowns me before others,
I will disown before my Father in heaven.”
“I don’t want that to happen. I love my Jesus and I don’t want him to disown me!” Joe declares.
“Now, as I've become older and more mature in Christ, I have come to realize that it is a little bit more important to have a relationship than just walking up to people and telling them they need to be born again” and never seeing them again. “I’ve learned not to be so pushy. “I try not to be a pest about it.” It works to just be cool and calm and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting. Not me. It’s not my job to convict.”
Joe describes having experiences with the Holy Spirit and with “bad spirits”. He knows first hand the spirit world is real and keeps this in mind when he is sharing his faith. “Everyone has struggles in their lives that are real and I know who is behind it all.“
“I’ve seen what God can do in my life, so I know he can do it in their lives. And that kind of excites me to see. (Knowing) who I was and what Christ brought me out of. If he can do it for me, he will do it for anyone.” I’ve seen it, especially recently in my cousin David. “
Feeling the prompting of the Holy Spirit to call David Ivey one Saturday evening, Joe (Junior) Rodriguez picked up the phone and invited his cousin to church as he had many times over the years. The answer was always the same, “Sure, I’ll call you if I decide to.” But the call never came, until this particular Sunday morning when the cell phone rang, it was David unexpectedly asking for a ride to church, “but, I’m drunk’ he said. Joe’s response was, “That’s ok bro, just come as you are.”
“That’s ok bro, just come as you are.”
Goosebumps were visible on David’s arms as they entered the threshold of the Crossroads sanctuary together. He stopped suddenly and put his hands on his heart, “What’s this feeling?”, “It’s probably the Holy Spirit you are feeling” Joe explained. “There is praise and worship going on in here, people serving and worshiping. “It feels good!” David replied as they sat in Joe’s usual spot. Crossroad’s member, Jeremy Kunkle walked by, and Joe introduced the two men. A few moments later, Jeremy returned telling David; “God told me I need to pray for you”. David was moved to tears. He had never experienced such compassion from someone he didn’t even know. That day, David accepted the invitation to make Jesus the Lord of his life.
This is the reason Joe Rodriguez invites everyone in his life to church and into a transformational relationship with Jesus Christ. His antidote to rejection? “God has put these people in your life. You’ve got to Keep loving them and keep sharing, for your sake and for the sake of Christ and for their sake. “
Joe’s advice to those hesitant about inviting and sharing? “Keep the faith! There are a lot of distractions out there in the world. Just keep sharing (the Truth). God rewards you. “
Every day, Joe dons his Jesus uniform and goes to work. He is an open invitation to a continuous conversation about Jesus. “In a sense, I’m just doing my job.”
