June 12 - Charlie Mack

Luke 18:1 "Now Jesus was telling them a parable to show that all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart"

Chrissie and I have spent many years working on the mission field of the University campus. Our ministry involved evangelism and discipleship, and then equipping students and professors to share their faith and to disciple others.

Normally I'm very patient in evangelism like Pastor Lloyd's book says. But there was that time: I was taking David, a young Christian with me to share Christ on an evangelistic appointment. It was his first time sharing Christ. We were meeting Rob, who had filled out a card at one of our events and said he'd like to talk more about a personal relationship with God. I reminded David that his primary responsibility was to observe and to pray while I talked with Rob.

Rob may have indicated an interest on his card that he filled out, but he did not seem at all interested as we talked. All he seemed to want to do was pick a fight with me and disagree with everything I said. Normally I'm very patient, but this time I could feel my blood begin to boil. I was getting so angry that I really didn't care where Rob spent his eternity. I was ready to rip the "Knowing God Personally" booklet into shreds and shove it down Rob's throat.

But as we began to near the end of the booklet Rob's stopped picking a fight. I used the circle diagrams to explain two types of lives, the one on the left has Christ outside the life, and the one on the right has Christ in the life and on the throne of that person's life.

I asked Rob which circle best represented his life and he said the one on the left (to no surprise). I then asked him which circle he wanted to represent his life, and he said the one on the right with Christ in the life and on the throne. Obviously he had not been paying attention so I went through and explained the two circles all over again and then asked him again which circle he wanted to have represent his life. He again said the one on the right.

By now I was totally off script, so I asked him why do you want to have Christ in your life? (I completely doubted his sincerity at that point - no way I was going to let him pray a prayer of salvation without meaning it.) He told me that he needed to be forgiven of his sin and wanted to have a relationship with God.

Based on all the hassle he had been giving me I could not believe this. I explained it a third time and asked him what he wanted to do. "I want to have Christ in my life and be forgiven." So reluctantly I led him in a prayer of salvation. Rob thanked me and asked if we could talk more about how to grow in Christ.

As David and I left I was totally stunned at what had just happened. I said to David, "That was the weirdest evangelistic appointment I've ever had." David laughed a bit awkwardly and he said, "Oh, that. I was daydreaming and then realized that this guy Rob was giving you a horrible time and realized I was supposed to be praying, so I started praying."

When did you start praying I asked him? David said right about the time he stopped giving you so much grief. At first I wish David had been praying from the very beginning of our time with Rob, but then I realized this was a wonderful illustration of the power of prayer in evangelism.

Are there people in your life who need Jesus but you have given up on them? Don't give up, but keep praying. God is at work in their lives whether we see it or not.

"Now Jesus was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart." Luke 18:1