Several months ago a church member and I went out knocking on doors, and we met a husband and wife who were both going to college to become nurses. They had grown up in a very legalistic church—one in which the members seemed to contradict themselves in much of what they would say and do. When they started college—and started diving into the university's courses in science—they increasingly started believing the tenets of evolution and started to deny the existence of God. They also started using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis, which made it more palatable to not believe in God. We spoke with them for about one and a half hours that day; when we left, we gave them several Gospel tracts ranging from "science confirming the Bible" to some that gave clear Gospel presentations.
That began a relationship that allowed me to speak to them on pretty much a weekly basis; we would discuss all sorts of questions that they had, and we would always end at the cross of Christ, the empty tomb, and what they were going to do with those facts. They both started attending our church sporadically, and others in the church began to reach out to them through social media and other avenues. When we kicked off our "Find it Here" 2011 emphasis, I was pleased to find out that we had several members of our church who were praying and fasting for this young couple.
On the Wednesday night before Easter, this young, post-modern, atheistic couple came to my office about an hour before church and told me that God had completely changed their mind about Him, science, and the Gospel. They admitted that they could no longer fight against work of the Holy Spirit, and they both professed to surrender their lives to Christ. We baptized them the next Sunday, and they are both excited about this new relationship with a real Savior who has reconciled them with a real God.
There are many in our church who had never spent time in prayer and fasting before, but I believe this will not be their last time seeking God for their ultimate satisfaction and for the souls of nonbelievers.
By the way, this young new Christian couple are now fasting and praying for the souls of many of their pagan friends, and last Sunday one attended church with them. We at Living Hope in Hopkinsville praise the Lord for His amazing grace.
Editor's Note: Nine years ago, Bobby Welch started submitting "Giving Your FAITH Away" articles to SBC LIFE, each one championing the cause of personal, one-on-one evangelism. Over the years he has provided almost ninety accounts of churches and people who obeyed the Lord's command to be witnesses. Each one carried an impassioned plea for Southern Baptists to remain faithful to this preeminent cause. In May, Bobby was named associate executive director/church growth with the Tennessee Baptist Convention; and while we will continue this column, you won't be seeing his smiling face at the end of each article. We praise God for the life and ministry of Bobby Welch and pray that the Lord will work mightily through this warrior as he continues to serve Him faithfully and tirelessly through the Tennessee Baptist Convention and Global Evangelical Relations.
P.S., If you have accounts of how the Lord has worked through your church's efforts in personal evangelism, please submit them to [email protected].
