Funny Story from John Piper

From a sermon in 1991:

I was eating at Pizza Hut under the television with Dan Chalmers, one of our missionaries to the Philippines. It was just before the fund raising campaign to build this building. The campaign was called SPAN the Nineties—Spreading Praise to All Nations.

I was struggling with the implications of spending three and a half million dollars on buildings here when thousands of people groups all over the world have not even heard the good news of the love of Christ and the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life in a way they can understand. I said to Dan, "I want my life and this church to be on the cutting edge of finishing the Great Commission in these last years of our century. Do you think this new sanctuary is a good investment in that cause?"

Dan opened his missionary wallet, pulled out this $20 bill and threw it on the table and said, "John, go for it!" So I wrote across the bill, "Go for it. Dan Chalmers. May 3, 1988." And I held it up before the church the next Sunday and said, at least one missionary who knows our vision believes that authentic worship in a new sanctuary will prove itself in obedience to the Great Commission in spreading praise to all nations.

Then to show you that God has a wonderful sense of humor in the midst of really serious things, I learned that morning that defacing a $20 bill is against the law. And of all the mornings in my ministry there was in the congregation that morning an agent from the FBI. He stopped at the door after the service and said, "You know it is against the law to do that, don't you?" I said, "Really?" And then he pulled out his card and gave it to me. And on the back was written, "This is an official pardon for writing on the $20 bill. Go For It!"

And so with the endorsement of a missions visionary and the FBI and, I believe, the Lord Jesus himself, we went for it. And here it is, by his grace and for his glory.