Living on Mission

 There is no question that my favorite room in this church is the prayer room. I frequent it regularly. I learned from researching church history that a group of ladies started a prayer ministry in this church back in 1993 with a room they designated as the prayer chapel. I'm not suggesting that is the first time this church prayed together in the past seven and a half decades. They started on April 15, 1993 with two ladies. They kept records of the numbers of intercessors, the regular prayer requests answered, and the number of hours people prayed during that year for a decade. So much of what I get to enjoy at FSBC Fritch is because God answered the prayers of those faithful intercessors.

We have a newer prayer room now. Isolated. Quiet. A sacred spot to seek the Lord. I was in the prayer room last Tuesday praying over various things. I felt a strong compulsion from the Lord that I needed to share my faith at Refuel with some athletes. Refuel is our ministry to high school students where we serve a free lunch to them once a week on Tuesdays. I waited for the students to show up later, but only one athlete came and he sat by himself. I recognized him because I served as the team chaplain during football and basketball seasons. I approached and struck up a friendly conversation with him with the mission of sharing Jesus. 

I asked if he knew where he would spend eternity at the end of his life. He contemplated and commented, "That is an interesting question." He had no idea. I asked if I could tell him something very important that someone told me when I was 17 years old. He seemed eager to listen. I told him an abbreviated version of my testimony. Sharing how Jesus took my sin away and saved me. His time was abbreviated before needing to get back to school, so I did not have time to press the issue. He did get to hear a clear gospel presentation. 

Today, we fed students again. God orchestrated three athletes showing up about 25 minutes before anyone else came. I had the chance to do the same thing with those students. I pulled up a chair and sat down with them. I told them up front that I cared about them. I shared my testimony and assured them that I would not pressure them. I just wanted to make sure they heard that message especially since two of them are seniors and my time with them is growing short. 

It is an intentional choice to live on mission for Jesus. Over the years God has opened doors to share the good news of Jesus with my children,  waiters and waitresses, doctors, nurses, coaches, students, drug addicts, alcoholics, law enforcement officers (when pulled over for speeding), and people dying. The man who led me to Christ and discipled me, Eli Bernard, led me to Christ because he lived and still lives on mission. He came to a junior varsity football game not to watch the game but with the mission of sharing Jesus with whomever he could. God sent him to me. God prepared my heart to receive that message. Nobody had ever sat me down and clearly explained the gospel to me before that night in October of 1983. I had a great uncle and a distant cousin who were preachers. They never explained the gospel to me even once. I used to play football with friends in the yard next to where a pastor lived. He never told me about Jesus. Eli lived on mission. God used his bold witness to introduce me to Jesus. God used that conversation in a football stadium during a football game to convert me. He can save anyone anywhere no matter who they are or what they have done. Hallelujah!

Eli continued living on mission by teaching me and others in our youth group to actively share our faith. I did so with my brother, cousins, sister, mother, aunts, best friends, and guys I played with on my football team. I just thought that was what every Christian did. I learned much later few people in churches actively share their faith. I'm not saying it has always been easy to follow in Eli's footsteps. I can say over the past four decades, God stirs me, gives the boldness and the ability to tell others the greatest news in the world.  God has enabled me to share my faith thousands of times both behind a pulpit preaching and in one on one conversations. It fires me up to get to be present when Jesus brings someone to faith and saves them. Baptisms ignite my soul. We are supposed to baptize two more this Sunday. Hallelujah twice. 

Imagine if we all chose to live on mission for Jesus. It is not our job to convert people. Only the Lord can do that. Our job is just to tell the good news. The Lord does the rest. Imagine if what Eli did for me by sharing the gospel, investing in me to teach how to do the same thing, and then releasing me to do it on my own, we did the same. He made a disciple [Matt 28:19] who has gone and made other disciples. That simple truth if acted upon could have profound impact on the community we live in and the church we call home. May God propel us to live on mission for Him.