Reaching the Marketplace for Jesus

Lost, but he KNEW the Roman’s Road 

I had a “first” last night when I went out on visitation. It started like this… 

On Thursday night visitation our outreach pastor lays out several types of visits on “the table” for anyone to take. There are shut-ins (people that, for whatever reason, can’t make it to church that week), food calls (people that are struggling financially that have called the church for some help with groceries), follow up visits (people who have accepted Christ in the last few weeks and need some follow up and encouragement in their new life), and visitors (people that have shown up at our church in one of the services over the last week or so). 

I usually walk right past the table since my comfort zone is street evangelism. But, my normal partners were on vacation so I figured I’d peruse the pickings. There were several visitors to our church last week so I picked one in Crofton (about 20 minutes from the church, I had met this couple on Sunday, they had just moved into the area).  Kurt and I headed out but it was a bust – they weren’t home. We headed back to church to call it a night. When we got back it was about 7:45 so we decided to grab another church visitor card. And here’s where the fun began. 

We knocked on a door about 10 minutes from the church. A young man answered the door and we asked for Andrew. The door closed and a minute later Andrew came out to the porch. I asked him if he had visited Granite last week. He said, “Yes.” I told him we like to return the favor and visit with those that have visited us. We chatted for a bit and I found out that he was Catholic and went to a Catholic church almost directly across the street from his house. He was very active in the youth group there (he was about 17 years old). He said he had heard about Granite (he couldn’t even remember how or where) so he decided to walk over to our church last Sunday (it must have taken him an hour to walk there – the Holy Spirit can be quite persuading at times).  

I finally got around to asking him “The Question” – Are you 100% sure that, if something happened to you, you’d go to heaven? He said he wasn’t sure so I asked him if I could show him what the Bible said about how you can settle that once and for all and never worry about it again. He said, “Sure.” 

I said, “You know we are all sinners?” 

He said, “Yep. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” 

I said, “Very good.” Then, with a little puzzlement in my mind, we talked about sin and what that verse means. 

After a bit I said, “Do you know there is a punishment for those sins?”

He said, “Yep. The wages of sin is death.” 

I finally had to ask. “Where did you learn these verses?” He told me he learned them at his Catholic youth group. He struggle through Rom 5:8 but he knew Rom 10:9. But, when I say he knew it – it was just a head knowledge. He didn’t know what to do with it. He was taught the whole plan of salvation in youth group. He had actually been invited to the banquet of God but no one told him how to eat. I asked him if he knew what Rom 10:9 meant. He said, “Not really.” So I showed him Rom 10:13 and said it was a little easier to understand. 

After I went through the plan I asked him if I could pray for him. I prayed aloud that the Holy Spirit would convict his heart. Then I asked him, “If Jesus is willing to accept you just the way you are, and He is, would you be willing to trust in Him as your only way to heaven?” 

Andrew said, “Of course.” And I had the privilege of leading him to the Lord. 

Afterward, with a huge smile on his face, I asked Andrew if he had ever trusted in Christ completely for his salvation. He said he hadn’t, no one had ever asked him to.

All I can think is that he heard the Word, and was drawn to it. So God sent him to a church that would show him what to do with the Word – even if it would take him an hour to walk there. And God was faithful to Andrew’s searching. Andrew was hungry and God fed him. Andrew is saved today because God’s Word is real and alive and faith really does come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.