Rise AZ Music Festival

On Saturday, April 26th was an incredible music festival in the park that we sponsored financially and where many of our people served.

One of the hallmarks of our church is that we are driven by our mission rather than preferences, and I was so grateful for the many people who went to serve whether or not the music was among their favorite genres.

I can tell you that I grew in appreciation for music that isn’t on the top of my playlist BECAUSE I LOVED THE HEARTS of those who were performing, AND I appreciated the opportunity to reach people with the gospel through the music. The estimates are over 10,000 people visited the festival throughout the day!

Afterwards, in addition to the music, many people were talking about a pastor who got a tattoo. The two questions most asked were, “Is it real?” and “Why did you get a tattoo (now)?”

The biggest reason I had never gotten one a tattoo before now was because I didn’t know what I would want for the rest of my life. Then, at a meet and greet with the artists, Joseph Rojas, the founder and lead singer of the band Seventh Day Slumber was doing free tattoos (he owns a tattoo shop in Nashville) and a friend of mine was going to get the cross tattooed. I started thinking then, “THAT is a tattoo that I would want the rest of my life!”

On Saturday, when I got to the concert and went backstage, there he was again tattooing a friend and no one else was in line (to get a tattoo) so I sat down and waited my turn. Meanwhile, Kim and others came back, unconvinced that I was really going to do it, but we all started googling images of Christian tattoos for men. When I saw the one with “Romans 1:16,” I knew immediately, “I want that one!”

Furthermore, it seemed inconsistent to hide that I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It had to be a visible, authentic part of who I am.  The biggest reason though, that I got the tattoo that I did and put it where I did was because of a memory I had from when Jared McCormick was our worship pastor. There was a man I greeted at church, who came for the first time and told me, “I didn’t know if I would be accepted here but then I saw him with his long hair and tattoos.”

I wanted my tattoo to be visible so people would KNOW that the people of TMC would be accepting of them.

But what about Leviticus 19:28?
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:28 (NIV)

The bigger question is “How much of the Old Testament should we follow?”
Here’s how I see it:

1. Creation
2. Fall (sin)
3. God’s Plan for Redemption

God’s original intent for creation remains. The consequences of  sin will be removed by the cross. How God dealt with Israel was confined to that particular people at that particular time.

It becomes a dangerously slippery slope towards legalism and inconsistency when we try to import aspects of the law (as it pertained to Israel) into the church.

For example, let’s compare tattoos with everyone’s favorite “law” issue of tithing. Was there anything forbidding tattoos given prior to the law? No, but there were examples of tithing. Was there anything in Jesus’ ministry that indicated that tattooing was a moral violation of God’s character? No, but Jesus told the Pharisees that they SHOULD practice the “latter” without neglecting the “former” (Matthew 23:23).

So . . . we are no more obligated to observe Leviticus 19:28 as we are the scores of other passages describing dietary restrictions or any of the capital punishment that were both commanded under the same law.

Therefore . . . I am as unashamed of my tattoo as I am of the gospel and by doing this, it is my prayer that I will be following apostle Paul as he followed Christ in my commitment to reach people of my generation with the Good News of Jesus.

"I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some."
- 1 Corinthians 9:22b (CSB)