I want you to hear a couple of stories from the students. I think that you will really enjoy hearing how they are growing and how the gospel is moving forward.
Quentin is an SIUE student. He recently went out witnessing with Lindsay (from Emporia State University in Kansas). The plan was to go out onto the beaches of San Diego and share our faith along the way. We were to pair up one boy and one girl. I chose a girl that I teach bible study with. Her name is Lindsay and she is from Kansas. Here is what he wrote me:
"At first, we got shut down a couple of times, but then we found a man sitting on a corner in front of a McDonalds. At first we were a little intimidated, but decided to approach him anyways. His name was Johnny.
Johnny is a 52 year old man who grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He appeared homeless and told us that he had been hospitalized for 3 days the previous week because of a seizure. The first survey question I asked him was "What three words would you use to describe your life?" He then answered after thinking for a moment, "I'm screwed up!" We immediately thought that the rest of the conversation might go haywire, but we kept on anyways.
The rest of the survey went fine after we had asked him some spiritual questions. I then asked him if it would be okay if I shared what I believe, or my faith about Christ. He said sure, so I started sharing the gospel with him. He said that he had believed in God because every once in awhile he would see a $20 bill laying on the ground and he knew God had put it there.
He then said that he thinks he is going to heaven, but I then asked if he was 100% sure about that, and he said no. I then told him how Jesus came on this earth and died for our sins and that he could get to god personally through Jesus Christ. I then asked him if he wanted to pray the prayer with me to ask Jesus Christ to come into his life and forgive him of his sins. He was skeptical at first, but before he could answer, another homeless man came up and set beside him--his name was Olson Larry Charles.
He had just gotten out of jail a week ago. He eagerly informed us that he had been arrested more than 300 times. That immediately terrified both me and Lindsay, but we continued on. Before I started talking to Johnny again, Olson had actually brought up God. He said that the last week of his life has been perfect. He said that he had gone to church the first Sunday that he was released from jail and enjoyed it! He said that the pastor had even given him a ride home!
After that statement, I immediately asked him if he was a Christian. He said no, but he had also believed in a god. I asked him if he knew who Jesus was and he said yes. I then asked him if he wanted to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior and he immediately said yes since he had such a great time at church.
After I had asked him, though, he immediately grabbed my shoulder and gripped tight. I was very scared. He then pulled me in and put me in somewhat of a headlock, but not a tight one, fortunately for me. I guess it was his way of a hug because he eventually let up, but I am pretty sure I peed my pants a little.
But anyways, I then prayed the prayer with him and told him to repeat what I said. In the background, I also head Johnny saying the prayer, so I knew he was wanting into the Kingdom also. After I had prayed the prayer with them I had invited them to Friday Night Live which is a kind of church service that we hold for the Summer Project Students and the San Diego community."
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