if you died tonight

Can I Pray With You Real Quick?
Ministry Update November 19, 2024

It was a soggy day at MSU last Wednesday. I only handed out around 15 or 20 tracts before it was raining enough the students wouldn’t take anymore. So I brought an open-air message. I had been there about 15 minutes when a student walked up to me and asked, “Can I pray with you real quick?”  “Sure” I replied. I told him my name and he put his hand on my shoulder and then the young man said the most encouraging prayer that I’ve ever had a student pray. After he finished, I told him that he doesn’t know how encouraging that was. Praise God!!!

Then toward the end of the message a girl noticed my recorder and asked, “Are you practicing or preaching?” I didn’t catch her question, so she repeated it again. I told her that I was preaching, but thought to myself it must not be very effective if she’s asking me if I’m practicing. So I stopped the message and talked to her. I asked her how she came to faith and she said that she was an atheist who grew up in an atheistic home. But praise God that He reached her even then. She wanted to know how to share her faith with her friends. I pointed her to Ray Comfort’s Hell’s Best Kept Secret link and to the Way of the Master Videos. May God bless the young man that prayed for me and may He show the young lady how to share the Gospel.

The week before that, I had five encouragers during that one witnessing time. Three young men walked up and shook my hand and told me to keep preaching. One girl nodded and smiled as she walked by and one young man yelled, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” I was open-air preaching, so I didn’t catch it. I really thought he was a mocker. So I asked him what he said and he repeated it again. I said “AMEN!”.

Many students have taken tracts this year and a few weeks ago a young man stopped to talk while I was handing out tracts. He was afraid that he was a false convert. After talking to him, I think he is too. But I quoted scriptures to him and encouraged him to read the Bible and for him to cry out for God to reveal Himself to him. Earlier this year, a student heard Anand’s dad open-air preaching and got convicted. Anand’s wife witnessed to him. I’ve been going to the college since 2011 and I’ve never seen anything like this and I’m hearing this from other evangelists around the country. Some tell me they still get more mockers, but  more friends than not are seeing the same thing I’m seeing. May God save many of these young people!

Spiderman

Friday night Doug, Joshua and I were joined by Anand and three of his kids as well as Conner and three of his kids. Unfortunately it was a really quiet night. We had a great group and some good discussions amongst ourselves, but there just weren’t that many people downtown that night. Everyone handed out tracts when we had the chance. When I told the guys that I was going to head home, I spun around and there were two guys walking by me. One of them was wearing a Spiderman (full face) mask. I handed them both tracts.

Spiderman wanted to know what it was. I told him a Gospel tract. He didn’t say anything. So then I said, “It tells you about Jesus?” He still didn’t say anything. Then I asked, “Do you know Him?” Still no response. So then I asked him if he died tonight, would he go to Heaven? He replied, “I hope so”. I asked him how you get there and he didn’t know. I told him that I could clearly see that they were headed somewhere, but there’s nothing more important than your eternal soul. They both listened as I clearly shared the Gospel with them.

Afterwards, I asked him if he has a Bible at home and he said he does. I encouraged him to start in Matthew and read the New Testament, asking God to reveal Himself to him. Then I asked the young man his name and he replied, “Spiderman.” Even though I don’t know his name, God does and may the Lord save the young man and his friend. The friend never said anything, but he listened the whole time.

These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others. Not all encounters are encouraging, but you just keep witnessing!