my bad

I have the honor of being a table host for the Summit Church's Starting Point team, which means every other month I get free dinner from Honey's and help walk people through the membership process of our church. Now, this process is not a quick signature and polaroid snapshot after which we extend the right hand of fellowship. No sir--we have to actually make sure that the people that are joining the Summit agree with the doctrines of the church and truly are committed to the mission and vision laid out by our elders and pastors. Imagine that. This means we table hosts have the privilege of asking the guests around our table some very personal questions about their spiritual life, theological questions, and thoughts about the Summit. Yeah, kind of awkward.

Tonight was a pleasant surprise. The people at my table were all friendly, clean, normal type people. They had all made commitments to Jesus and were ready to join the church with very little question.

I however, had a question, which took "awkward" to a whole new level. Two of my guests, a guy and gal who were both young, attractive, single people came in together, sat together, and were obviously well acquainted. When asked what they did in their spare time, both mentioned spending time together. When it came time to do the individual interviews, I asked if they wanted to do them together, since I always interview couples as couples. That's just my style. Casually, while looking over my questions, I mentioned, "Yeah, we can do you guys together since you're dating." The silence that followed demanded a little more of my attention. "You are dating?" They both shook their heads, glancing at each other and at me. "No, we're just friends." Yeah, the cuss words going through my head probably aren't appropriate to put into writing. "Or we can go individually. You choose," I hurriedly added. They decided to go ahead and interview together, being the good friends they were.

Trying to cover my obviously inappropriate assumption, I said something about how having a guy or girl that was a good friend sure was something rare, something special. I could feel myself getting warmer as my face began to turn a color similar to the bright orange scarf wrapped around my neck. I quickly pulled it off. No need to encourage comparison.

The rest of our interview went without a hitch, and they were both lovely people who will contribute significantly to the Summit. Still, I sure wish I could have heard their conversation on the way home. Or perhaps the awkward silence...I guess we table host are good for something.