Dave Sterrett - Jesus Conversations: Effective Everyday Engagement

A few years ago, I was a professor at a small Christian liberal arts college in Minnesota. For a couple classes, I trained university students in Christian evangelism. On one occasion, we did a survey at the University of Minnesota where my students started conversations with other students and professors, and asked questions such as: Do you believe truth is absolute or relative?; Do you believe there is a God?; and Can science answer everything? I dont think anyone was converted on our first outreach, but I remember many students, who were not by nature outgoing, came back excited because of the meaningful conversations. My students were pleasantly surprised to see a professor change his mind on some of the answers regarding the nature of truth and the meaning of life, moving from someone who believed that truth was only relative to believing in an objective standard. On another occasion, our students went out to the Mall of America and talked with Somali Muslim young adults about Jesus. The experience was so positive that two of my students, Liam and Caleb, persisted in asking me to take them out again to share the gospel across the Twin Cities.

These two students both loved Jesus and wanted to make a difference. I finally agreed to organize a group of students and recruited another professor to go out and start spiritual conversations. It was a cold, snowy evening in downtown St. Paul, which I visited with Liam, Caleb, and a handful of other students and adults. Standing outside a bus stop, Caleb suggested we pray together as a group. In my heart, I was hesitant, as I didnt want to draw attention to ourselves. But I thought it was great that Caleb was stepping out in faith, so we huddled beside the bus station and prayed out loud that God would use us as people walked by.

As we were praying, a lady said, If you are praying, please say a prayer for me.

Sure, I responded. How can we pray for you?

I am an alcoholic, she said. And I have been in and out of rehab. But Child Protection Services is going to take my baby if I dont quit drinking. I desperately need Gods help. Then she started crying.

I have met many people with drinking problems, but few are willing to readily admit their addiction. As we prayed that God would do a miracle, tears ran down her face. We asked for the power of the Holy Spirit to fill her and take away her desire to drink. When we finished praying, she didnt ask for money. Our group thought it would be good to get to know her better and hear about her church experience, so we invited her to walk to McDonalds with us to grab a bite to eat. If Caleb hadnt suggested praying, she would never have talked with us.

As we walked to McDonalds, I started a conversation with a young, professional man named Anthony and asked him if he had a faith.

He told me, Not really.

Is there anything that interests you spiritually, I asked, or do you have a church home?

Nope, he replied.

After asking a few more questions, I felt like I was getting nowhere with Anthony, so I continued on with our group. It seemed to me that Anthony was spiritually cold and not at all interested in having a spiritual conversation. I gave up and pleasantly thanked him for taking the time to talk with me.

But Liam was more persistent and wasnt going to allow an initial rejection to stop him. Liam spoke to Anthony and started asking bold questions: If you were to die tonight, how sure are you on a scale from 1 to 10, you would go to heaven?

I was thinking that his timing for these questions might not be the best since Anthony had already implied that he wasnt interested. Again, I started feeling a little embarrassed. Obviously, this man was not interested in the gospel, but Liam wouldnt stop talking.

If you died tonight, Liam continued, and God was to ask you Why should I let you into my kingdom? what would you tell God?

To keep things casual, I said, Anthony, join us for McDonalds. Im buying.

To my astonishment, he said, Sure, Ill join.

As we entered the restaurant, I was busy with the group and making sure everyone was taken care of. After everyone had ordered, I was surprised to see Liam and Anthony praying together! Then they were laughing together. As I walked up, I could hear Liam talking clearly about the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Even though I was the professor and more well trained with degrees in religion, God chose to use Liam, a farm boy from North Dakota, in his obedience to lead Anthony closer to Jesus. While I had been feeling somewhat timid, young Liams bold faith wouldnt be intimidated by an initial refusal. Of course, there had been times in my life when I was bold and took risks; but then other times, I needed encouragement to go out and spread the gospel.