Testimonies from 2013

Evangelism at the Smoker’s Pit-May 2013

Donnie, one of my good friends and mentees has become a partner with me in prayer walking and evangelism efforts.  After ministering to each other one Saturday evening, we prayer walked the Calvin College campus.  After praying for several students in the library, we walked past the smokers’ pit.  Then God’s Kairos time happened.

Donnie began talking to another student, and I was nudged to go back to the smokers’ pit.  As I sat down midst the cloud of cigarette smoke, I began praying quietly in the Spirit.  The three or four students were discussing alcohol, plagiarism, their dreaded religion class final exam, etc.  While it was tempting to be judgmental, I kept praying.

Then the words came to me: “What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?”  Now this hardly seemed appropriate.  Yet it was crystal clear in my mind and I knew it was how God wanted me to connect with them.  So I asked and that started the conversation.  

Before long, I was engaging in a conversation in Korean with the Korean student, and ended up sharing some of my testimony of turning from religion, to a sinful lifestyle, to Jesus.  It turned out I had witnessed to one student before the previous fall, and he gave me a big hug.  

I ended up witnessing to others through my story, and had them all really thinking and pondering their own lives.  Pray these students turn to the Lord, as I did in college.

Rejection? Rather Salvation!-April 2013

The original student I was supposed to meet last Friday at 2:30 was unable to make our meeting, so I began talking with another young man on his dorm floor. I had met “Brian” several times before, but outside of a short prayer, never really got to speak into his life.  As we talked, I asked him about his spiritual life and it became clear he was a “cultural Christian,” and had never surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I used the Bridge illustration from Navigators, Matthew 7:21, and a few diagrams from a discipleship book to show him about the realities of being born again.  He asked me “how” he could be born again.  I prayed for him, then let him pray a prayer of surrender.

I spent some time sharing with him about the realities of new identity and Christ, gave him a sheet on identity in Christ, and had him read through it.  Then, he began confessing some of his sins to me, and we prayed.  Next I explained about being baptized with the Holy Spirit to be a witness for Jesus Christ in what He had learned.  We prayed for Jesus to baptize him in the Spirit, and then I anointed him with oil.  I told him I’d stop by in a few days and he was smiling and gave me a big hug as I left.  Pray for “Brian!”