About Golgotha Ministry
Why the name and why do it anyway? I’ve always loved music and food. I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War. There was a great hurt in my parents’ home. My father spent those decades heartbroken over the loss of his mother to cancer. There was always this theatrical performance of dad shouting at the ceiling, flicking the finger to this God up above, challenging him to a fight. This may sound crazy, but I thought perhaps Jesus lived in the attic of my house.
My dad's dad always said my mother’s mother being a Catholic was a footstool to the Devil. My mom’s mom said that my dad’s dad was an evil man because he wasn’t a Catholic. My mom told me there was a big book in Heaven specifically for me with two columns… good and bad… when I died, Jesus would add up the columns and based on the counts I’d either go up in the sky somewhere, or horrifyingly enough, somewhere in the very center of the Earth where I would burn forever.
So I did a little adding myself and decided, as Russia and the USA were about to nuke the planet at any moment, I might do better to focus on that guitar and my rock records and tunnel out as soon as I could manage it.
Oh I learned about intoxication and hallucination. I learned about sex… the incorrect way. I’ve hurt a good many people. I’ve hurt myself along the way.
I had a gun. I was heading over to Walmart to buy some bullets and a little voice suggested to instead go over to St. Anne’s Catholic Church on Charlotte Pike, Nashville. Father Breen talked me down off the ledge and helped me turn loose of that pistol.
I’ve come to understand a couple things. Although you might laugh, every great and terrible thing in life can be understood by watching Forrest Gump. (Thank you, Tom Hanks; your contribution to my life is greatly appreciated.)
I also understand that the power of total and unrestrained forgiveness is the most supernatural commodity in the universe.
A good friend, the kind you make for a lifetime, saw my hurt and did the most amazing thing any of us could do for another. Steve Thompson explained to me what it meant to take on a surrender and a friend request to Jesus.
You see, you take off that old suit, covered in dust, pockets full of moths, and you put on that new suit with its royal fabric and thread, and you just go forward.
You say you are sorry to yourself and the others who are in your life. You do it sincerely.
Still haven’t told you why in regards to the name Golgotha. In 2004, I saw a miracle in Huntington Penitentiary. I had been listening to Johnny Cash 4 with the man comes around and got an invite for a prison tour. I watched the pain and suffering melt away in a gymnasium filled with despised broken men. It only took a Motown song.
My first love, music.
Later when my spaceship crash landed in Mississippi I started doing Kairos walks at Parchman. It was John Coleman who invited me. John is truly a modern day John the Baptist. He has been a great mentor and inspiration to me through all these years. If it can be described in one sentence Kairos is four days in a gymnasium taking men apart and putting them back together. Those letter bags on day three…. If you want to see something powerful, go check that out.
I realized that all that training I did in those rock bands of my youth was His idea for my later true calling.
Listen to my words, don’t get lost in those denominations and political discourses. Get deep in the search for those moments when you’re saying the words and doing the deeds that make your chest burn. Did you notice that in those moments, it’s like 75% joy and like 25% grief? That’s Calvary speaking to you. So there it is for me… Golgotha, the place of the skull where Christ was crucified. Matthew 27:33-54.
I hope all this helps in explaining the origin of the Golgotha Ministry. There is real love and forgiveness in those prisons, and as long as the fishing is good, we will indeed keep going there.