"Do you think New Years Resolutions and spiritual growth go together?" Here's the story of a freshman, Josh, who had signed up to do Evangelism using the display, as told by national training coach Doug Schaupp, who leads my new student outreach projects. Josh's campus staff at Virginia Tech, Wes, was on hand too:
Josh showed up, wearing goofy glasses, and generally looking petrified. When Wes asked Josh how he felt, he said, "I'm so nervous I feel like throwing up." I could see from the sweat on his brow that he wasn't kidding. Josh had never done anything like this before, and I could see that this could be an epic day for him. Wes prayed for them, and sent them off with a practical challenge, "The goal is to get 5 contact cards in this hour." Josh started poorly. He just paced the union for the first 15 minutes, not daring to start any conversations. He finally gave it a try. He started a conversation with Nick about New Years resolutions.
Nick was pleasantly startled. He was a transfer student. Nick had actually made some New Years Resolutions, and one of them was to try to get close to God. As they talked, Nick opened up. He had been adrift and a loner fall semester. He was pretty miserable, and even considered dropping out of Virginia Tech. Josh invited Nick to his small group later that same night. Nick showed up and really liked it. In fact, he decided to come to the Large Group meeting the next night. At Large Group, I spoke on Luke 5, Jesus' huge catch in Peter's life. At the end, I gave several invitations to respond to Jesus, including those who want to follow Jesus for the first time. Nick came forward. Later during prayer, Nick started weeping. After having his own life transformed by God, he invited his friends to small group. Jared joined him the next week, and Jared loved it as well.
Josh and Nick shared
their story a few weeks later at Large Group. Nick said, "At that Large
Group meeting, I became nostalgic about feeling close to God. During the talk,
I connected with the character of Peter. He didn’t have everything all
together, but he was willing to take a risk and follow Jesus. In everything
Doug said, it felt like he was speaking to me. I knew I needed to stand up and
let Jesus change me."
Jesus used the Resolve display as a tool to help a student to reach a peer, and now both of their lives are different. Nick knows Jesus. Josh believes that God can work through him. Wes learned more about training and coaching students he might otherwise overlook. Doug has a the display and materials he can use while he focuses on teaching students and staff. And all of us are blessed to see God's power on campus!
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