Category: Witnessing Stories

You might think that at a college campus everyone is busy and no one is interested in talking about Christianity. But that is SO not true! Two days ago we went witnessing with some friends at a local college campus and we had so many great conversations. Nickie shared with a few international students that had never heard the gospel before–ever! From what I hear, it was a very good conversation and the students were very grateful.

One girl said the she and her friend had just been talking the night before about what happens when a person dies. Even though she wasn’t ready to receive the gospel, we do think God had prepared her for our talk by giving her those thoughts/questions the night before. It was just another reminder that God does direct our steps and prepare hearts when we ask Him to! Another person told us that he was going to go read the gospel of John now.

Here’s something one of the guys who went witnessing with us sent in an e-mail: “I used to be so afraid of this type of thing. I thought just going up to people and trying to share my faith with them would drive them away and would be a bad experience overall. My stereotype is shattered! Many people we talk to seem genuinely glad that they talked to us and interested in hearing what we have to say.”

Two of us began witnessing to a man named Rod. We asked him one of our favorite starter questions: “In the last 6 months has your interest in God increased, decreased, or stayed about the same?”
He said it had definitely increased and then explained that he had come to the campus this afternoon specifically to pray for students on the campus to come to Christ and be discipled.
Wow, I could hardly believe what I was hearing!
He explained that his ministry was to travel around the country with his wife in their RV and pray at college campuses. We told him that we had just come to the campus specifically to share the gospel there! (Actually, this was only the second time we had come to Coe College this year!)
“When did you get here?” we asked him.
“About a half hour ago,” he replied.
“That’s when we got here!” we told him.

We felt like we were there because he was there. We were majorly refreshed and energized, seeing this as a special confirmation from the Lord. I gave Rod a Bright Lights brochure so he would have our contact information.
“Bright Lights? My nieces are in this!” he said.
“Are you serious?” I asked. “What are their names?”
“Melanie Thompson and her sisters… they lead a group in Ohio,” he said.
“I’m good friends with them!” I told him,“I was just talking to Melanie the other day!”

Later on, James (a guy who was witnessing with us) also approached Rod to witness to him. When he learned about Rod’s ministry, he asked, “Did you ever pray at the University of Indiana?”
“Yes” Rod replied.
“I was saved there!” James exclaimed.
Both were very encouraged. The body of Christ is amazing. What can I say? The Lord is so good to us.

Just this afternoon I talked on the phone with Melanie, who had already heard about the encounter from her Uncle Rod. She told me that her uncle has already been to 1,000 campus praying! What a testimony to faithfulness–even though fruit isn’t always seen immediately.

“The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build…” (Nehemiah 2:20)

Last Saturday, Sarah, my mom and I went to this park to witness. As Sarah was turning off the engine my mom let out a blood curdling scream (believe me, when my mom screams it’s really loud!). As the automatic window closed, it had caught my mom’s fingers in between the window and the top of the door. Sarah quickly rolled the window down again, and we looked at mom’s fingers. They had black indention lines where they had been caught, but Mom said she was okay. Sarah and I were pretty startled ourselves after that loud scream, and Sarah and my mom went home to get ice.
I stayed at the park thinking, This has never happened before, and when does it happen? Right when we arrive at a park to witness. But often enemy attack means something good is about to happen. And that was certainly true this day.

“What do you think happens after you die? Sarah asked one lady, after she and my mom had returned.
“I don’t know but I’m scared,” the lady replied.
“Well, that’s a good start. It’s good to be concerned.” Sarah said, explaining how we are all sinners and God is a righteous Judge.
“Now I’m really scared,” she said.
But just as Sarah began sharing the good news, her granddaughter came up and she needed to go. Now Sarah had to give her some answers really fast! Sarah looked her in the eyes and told her, “you don’t need to be scared about what happens when you die, you can know for sure you are going to heaven if you trust these verses…” she said.
“What verses?” the lady asked.
Sarah showed her 1 John 1:9 and Ephesians 2:8-9 and encouraged her to confess her sin to the Lord and ask Him to save her.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Sarah told her to read the tracts she gave her, and get alone with God to talk to Him about it. Sarah could tell by the look in her eyes that she was taking this very seriously. Wow–we prayed that God would direct us to hungry hearts and it’s so encouraging to see Him doing it.

Then Sarah began a little questionnaire with a young mom who said she believed in Heaven because she has good dreams about her grandfather and she knows that he is there. She believes she is a good person and that she is going to heaven because she gives all her time to take care of her little boy.
Sarah gently walked her through the 10 commandments and then talked about how “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” and also John 3:16 and how it’s not a general belief but a personal belief.
She looked at Sarah in a funny, curious way and asked, “Can I ask why you picked me to talk to?”
Sarah replied that there wasn’t really any particular reason, but that she had been praying the last few days that God would lead her to the right people.
“I’ve seen you at the mall before,” the young mom said, “and you’ve talked with my niece before.”
“Did your niece mind when we talked with her?” Sarah asked.
“Oh no, not at all!” she said. “You come across so nice—and when you talk with people they always remember it,” she told Sarah.
Sarah gave her some tracts and reminded her how every person has to make an individual choice to come to Christ. She asked Sarah’s name and shook her hand with a big smile.
“Thanks for being so sweet!” Sarah said.
“Well, thank *you* for being so sweet,” she responded.
I tell this story as a reminder that often people are very grateful when we talk with them. Not always, but often. But we won’t know that until we take the time to step out and begin the conversation!

I talked for about an hour with some staunch evolutionists. Very interesting and enjoyable conversation. Here’s a quick summary.
“Hey I’m working on a little project learning what people believe. Would you mind answering a few questions?” I asked.
“Sure,” they said.
“What do you think happens when someone dies?” I asked.
“Nothing–you just go into the ground,” they said.
“Okay. So did you grow up with any certain faith or religion?” I asked.
Sam hadn’t, and Naomi had grown up in a Unitarian church.
“The next question is this: If you had a problem with Christianity or an argument against it, what would it be?” I asked.
“Just one problem with Christianity?” Naomi asked.
I smiled. “No, you can give more than one,” I said.
“Well, I guess it would be that I don’t agree with Christians who say the Bible is 100% literal and has to be taken as fact— I think it’s more metaphorical,” she said.
“What about you?” I asked Sam.
“I don’t have a problem with Christianity,” he said. “In fact, a Christian friend just helped me out with something recently. Actually, I hope there is a God,” he said.
“So why don’t you believe the Bible?” I asked.
“Because I believe in evolution,” Sam said.
So we dove into a long discussion about Creation and evolution. Dinosaurs. Holes in the evolution theory. Complexity and beauty in creation which speak loudly of a Creator. And so on.
Naomi explained how they believed in science and I just take the Bible by faith.
“But it takes faith to believe evolution too,” I told them. “Because it’s a story of something that happened in the past.”
They couldn’t disagree.“Yeah, I wasn’t there [when it happened],” Sam said.
“So really, you don’t see any problem between Christianity and Science?” Sam asked.
“No not at all!” I told them, explaining how many of the early scientists were Christians.
“I really hope there is a God,” he said again. “The idea of a Creator and afterlife is so much nicer than just going into the ground to become worm food.”
Sam asked, “What actually is God?
As I explained God’s attributes I admit I was amazed by how little Sam knew about the Lord!
Finally, I got to share the gospel—how God, the Creator, became a man, Jesus, to take care of the problem of sin.
“Jesus is God??” Sam interrupted me, very surprised.
“Yes,” I said.
“I thought He was God’s Son,” he said.
Sam mentioned how he had never talked about religion very much with his friend who is a Christian. He said he didn’t want it to breach the relationship.
“Well we’ve been talking about it all this time and we’re still friends,” I told him.
He agreed.
I know Sam was genuinely intrigued and surprised by all I told him. They took the booklets that I gave them, and we parted with a friendly goodbye.
Please join me in praying for Sam and Naomi that the Lord would open their eyes to the truth!! It’s so, so sad to see how our society just indoctrinates people in evolution. Even though they can’t defend evolution, they still believe it because they’ve been taught this all their lives. But God can open the eyes of the blind.

“I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:18)

Sometimes it’s easy to make excuses not to witness when it doesn’t fit in perfectly with our schedule. But if Jesus was “about His Father’s business” when He was 12 (Luke 2:49), that should be our daily goal, too! (Big challenge to myself!) Thankfully, the Lord is faithful to guide and provide. A few weeks ago as I was driving home, I noticed some teens at the park by my house and wished I could witness to them. The only problem was that my mom said supper was going to be at 6:45 and it was already almost 7pm. But when I arrived home, my (flexible!) mom said it would be okay to wait, so I grabbed my purse and drove back to the park.

I approached a teenage girl walking towards the merry-go-round. “Here – something for you,” I told her, handing her this tract which has a picture of the Sun and the size of the earth in contrast. She thought it was cool and began looking at it right away. I asked her what she thought happened when we die. Before she could answer, a few of her friends joined the conversation so I gave each of them the same tract and asked them the same question.

Her friend with blue hair, Alexis, (about 13 yrs), looked really familiar. Then she exclaimed, “I’ve been running into this everywhere [people sharing the gospel] … at the mall, at Marion Downtown…”
“Well maybe God’s trying to get your attention!” I suggested.
“Yeah, maybe…” she agreed, “because I’ve stopped going to church.”

They all thought that you get to Heaven by “being good,” so I walked them through the 10 Commandments to see how good they really were. They all readily agreed that they had lied, stolen, lusted, taken God’s name in vain, and dishonored their parents. I could see the look of conviction in their eyes. They agreed with me that death could happen at anytime and the worst thing that could possibly happen to someone would be to go to hell.
“So if you died tonight, would you go to Heaven or Hell?” I asked them.
“I don’t know,” one girl said. (They weren’t offended by my question; they were intrigued. People appreciate truth when it’s spoken lovingly.)
Her friend turned to her and said, “I think you would go to Heaven. God forgives!”
“But if you were standing in court and had committed a crime,” I explained, “You couldn’t just say to the judge, ‘but won’t you just forgive me?’ and expect the judge to say ‘Okay, sure! Goodbye!’ could you? No, the judge has to punish the crime, right?! Otherwise he wouldn’t be a good judge! In the same way, God has to punish sin–-and the punishment for sin is hell.”
“Then everyone is going to hell,” they said.
“Except,” I clarified, “There is one Way—a narrow path—that God provided for those who want to go to Heaven.”
We continued talking. I didn’t want to give them the truth about Jesus until they were ready to receive it. I told them that the only reason I was talking to them was becuase I cared about them. They responded well to that.
Soon Josh interrupted, “So what’s this ‘path thing’, like, to Heaven, that you were talking about?” he asked with sincere urgency in his voice.
“Well,” I answered, “first we need to understand that we cannot get to Heaven on our own or by being ‘good enough.’”
“Yeah, I know that,” he agreed.

“Ok, well then, because God loved you, Josh,” I explained, “He decided to punish Himself for your sin. That’s why Jesus died on the cross. God became a man, Jesus, and died a horrible bloody death on the cross. And God put on Jesus your sin, and also the sin of the whole world.”
“That must have been pretty heavy,” Josh remarked.
“Yeah!” I agreed with a smile and continued to explain how Jesus rose again and is alive now and will come back one day.
“Ok,” Josh interrupted me again, anxiously, “I just need to know the way to get to Heaven. Do you have like, a pamphlet or anything that explains it?”
(Hmm… do I have a pamplet that explains it….?! )
“Ok, well to find the answer,” I told him, “You have to go to the Bible. Don’t trust what people tell you—you have to see what God says. And the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son–” and then Josh began to quote along with me!
“You know John 3:16?” I asked in suprise, “Ok, well then you already know the answer: that whosever believes in Him should not perish…” I emphasized.
“Believes in Him” Josh repeated to himself, trying to understand what he needed to do.
“But it’s not simply ‘believing in God,’” I clarified, “Even demons believe that He exists—and tremble. It’s like putting on a parachute,” I explained. “You can believe the parachute will save you, but it won’t actually save you until you put it on. It’s the same way with Jesus. You have to trust what He did for you on the cross and ask Him to save you.”

I gave Josh some tracts and told him of a good website to go to.

Josh’s sincerity seemed to be rubbing off on the other three, too. They went from just being silly to asking me serious questions about Catholicism and some other things. I was surprised to learn that all three other girls also knew John 3:16. I told them, “You guys live in America and are so blessed to have this information about God and the way to Heaven. But if you keep rejecting it, there will come a time when it’s too late and there are no more chances.”
I instructed them that when they went to bed that night (or before) that they needed to get alone with God and ask Him for the gift of eternal life. They seemed to indicate that they would — especially Josh. I asked if I could pray for them right now and they wanted me to.

We talked about what it means to be “born” into God’s family, about the joy of knowing our Creator, about how being a Christian wasn’t always easy, and about how reading the Bible was a necessity. They also liked the idea of getting together for a group Bible study and entered my cell phone number into their cell phones. I assured them they could call or text me with any more questions.
“Thank you so much for talking with us!” they said warmly.

I arrived home at about 8pm to find that my (wonderful) family who had waited for me for dinner and was excited to hear the report.

I was at the park again recently and noticed some kids eating sandwiches on the playground equipment. As I got closer I saw it was Josh and Alexis again!
“Hey guys!” I said.
They were very friendly. I asked them if they had thought more about what we talked about that one night.
They nodded “yes,” and Josh said, “I’ve just been trying to respect God a lot more in what I do…”
I wondered what he meant by that. I explained again about how Jesus told us we need to be “born again” and that it is usually a specific “one time occurrence” that someone asks God to save them. I asked if they had done that.
Josh told me that he had “asked God to be his Savior,” got baptized a few weeks ago, and has been reading his Bible. “Thank you again for talking with me that one night” he said, looking me in the eye.

I can’t say if Josh truly became a believer or not, but he certainly had a sincerity about him. I don’t think his church situation is very good and he certainly needs much more Christian influence in his life. I reminded Josh and Alexis that they needed to keep reading the Bible because it’s like food (“just like the sandwiches you are eating now”) and they need to read the Bible to grow.

Josh was also anxious to receive a “One Heartbeat Away” book. (And his friend Alexis asked him to pass the book to her when she was done with it.)

Please pray for Josh and Alexis!

This afternoon we went to a little festival at a nearby small town to go witnessing. Before we left we took some time to watch some witnessing video clips and talked about how to answer the question “How do you know the Bible is true?” We were trying to write some simple answers to this question on a 3×5 cards to carry with us. (But, of course, we found there were way too many answers to fit them onto a 3×5 card!)

We had a great team! The event we went to was called “Chalk the Walk” where artists draw fancy artwork on the streets with sidewalk chalk. There were lots of people standing around and it was a perfect place for witnessing.

It was so neat to look around and see witnessing conversations happening up and down the street… 🙂

Allison and Carrissa …what can I say? As you can see by their expressions, they were thorougly enjoying the afternoon of witnessing! I don’t think they are afraid of anything, and when you combine them and tell them to go witness…watch out! 🙂

Overall, we all got some good practice and were able to have many good conversations. We pray the Lord will cause those seeds to grow!

“They said this…so I said this…and they said this…” we always enjoy coming back and discussing the conversations we had and the responses we received.

Stephanie (blue) has been a big encouragement to me as she has often asked me “when are you going to plan another witnessing event?” And it’s neat to watch Stephanie becoming a great witnesser! Morgan (pink) came for the first time today and just jumped right in. It was a blessing having her with us!