Here's Johnny

I knew that Falls Creek 07 was coming to an end. The staff cafeteria (staffeteria) was undergoing a transformation from staff cafe to VIP restaurant. That night there was going to be a dedication service for the auditorium in the new tabernacle. They were going to name the ausitorium after some rich dude. It sounded interesting, but the pounding in my head was going to keep me from attending.

To be honest, I was not that disappointed. Fancy doin's are hard on me. I feel uncomfortable and wierd watching some rich guy talk about how he is glad to help. I am glad he helped too, but I just don't like pomp and circumstance. In fact, When I recieved my Master's Degree I refused to attend the event. I was just not into it.

So, instead of going to the service, I went to my room, took as much pain reliever as my wife would let me and tried to get some sleep. I guess I did get some sleep because I was awakened by one of my staff members talking to my wife about how gross it was. In my groggy state I was confused about what "it" could be.

Well, apparently the 80 something guest of honor french kissed his wife of 50 years right there on the stage, in front of 7,000 teenagers, for over 10 seconds! Apparently they got into because she supposedly wrapped one leg around him during the kiss. I thought to myself, "What rich dude would be daring enough to pull off something like that?" I was actually happy about what I heard. I mean how could you not be happy about 80 year olds still in love with each other like that. It gave me hope.

The next morning I had to use my truck to move the ropes equipment trailer. When I was done I drove back to my parking spot and found it occupied by a very large Lincoln Continental. I thought first they kiss on stage, then they take my parking spot. What's next?

Well, Nate, a staff member that was in the truck with me said it didn't surprise him. He said that the guy used to play trumpet in some crazy places so he figured it ought to be expected. I thought for a moment. Plays the trumpet? French kisses his wife of 50 plus years on stage in front of 7,000 teenagers? I said, "Hey, that sounds like Johnny Bisagno!"

Nate replied, "Yeah, I think that was the guys name."

I was dumbstruck. Totally dumbstruck, but not so dumbstruck as to keep me from telling Nate all about Johnny Bisagno.

You see, Bisagno was the camp pastor at Falls Creek when I made some of the biggest decisions of my life. He could get a teenagers attention and keep it, partly because he always got right to the point and partly because he never took too long preaching. I used to love listening to this guy preach, not just because it was some new theological truth, but rather because he sort of new what we were going through. He managed to take me and all the other teens there with me to where God was. His preaching, his love for God, his love for people profoundly affected me.

That is when I realized that this was the rich guy that was eating with us in the staff cafeteria. But you see, Johnny Bisagno isn't some rich guy, well maybe he is, but that is not why he had his name put on the auditorium. He had his name put on the auditorium because of the way he loved teenagers, and because of that the way that he loved Falls Creek.

I remember one time when he was preaching. He was telling us about a time when he had just returned to his church after preaching at a week long revival. When he got back to his church one of his deacons asked him how it went. He said, "Great, 3 1/2 people were saved." The deacon asked, "You mean 3 adults and one teenager?" Bisagno replied, "Nope, 3 teenagers and one adult. The adult has already wasted half of his life." You gotta understand how it felt as a teenager to have a guy preach like you mattered as much an adult.

So, here it was the last day at Falls Creek and Johnny Bisagno had left and I did not even realize he was there until he was gone. I wish I had known it was him because I would have thanked him for loving God and loving kids.