Prayer at Camp

Camp T-Bar M shares the gospel every Wednesday evening with the campers during the summer. Before the presentation, Rebecca Zwart gathered with other coaches to pray for God to open the students’ hearts.

“During the gospel presentations every Wednesday, God moved greatly,” Zwart said. “This was the one night if the week where most kids accepted Christ. We sat down with them one on one and really listened to their thoughts and helped them better understand the gospel.”

The Wednesday evening service also opened up doors for the hard conversations.

“Several girls shared their struggles with abuse, and that was always difficult to hear and help guide them through knowing how important they are in God’s eyes,” said Zwart. “It was crazy to me the real struggles some of the campers had been facing at such a young age.

Children

Children in East Africa listen intently as the missionaries tell them about Jesus.

Brave Witness

I’m Brianna McElroy, and I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. I’m on staff with a ministry called Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), and hope to continue in ministry for many years! Some of my passions include traveling, laughing, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends.

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“Brave” isn’t a word that I would usually describe myself as. I’ve always done things that are pretty routine, pretty comfortable. Even as I sit here writing this story, I wonder if brave is even the word I should be using as I tell it. It seems like it should be accompanied by the words “mighty” and “fearless”! But as I’ve come to learn in the past year, bravery looks different for every person. I can be brave while also being afraid. I can be brave without having to be the strongest person around. I can be brave even when it doesn’t feel like bravery.

Sharing the Gospel is something that has always scared me, which is crazy when I think about it. Why should sharing the one thing that truly gives me life be so difficult? But if I’m honest with myself, it’s because I’ve always cared about two things: my own comfort, and what other people think about me. Talking about Jesus and what He did for our salvation is so incredibly important, but it’s also not a message that is always received so well. I used to live in a constant fear of rejection and also in my own limitations. Surely God didn’t make me to be an evangelist, right? However, the one verse that has been continuously standing out to me this past year is 2 Timothy 4:5. Paul says to Timothy, “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry”. Do the work of an evangelist. For some reason, that was the reminder and courage I needed to step out of my comfort zone and start sharing the Gospel. I may not automatically be an evangelist, but I’m also called to do the work of one.

So I’ve mentioned that sharing the Gospel is hard for me, right? In the past, I would feel a nudging in my spirit to go up to a random stranger and share Christ with them. But 99% of the time I would ignore that nudging, allowing my fear to take control. But what if they reject what I have to say? What if I mess it all up? This year, everything changed for me. The Lord called me out of that place of comfort (which was really a place of fear) and called me into some situations where I did have to be brave. But it wasn’t even my own bravery, it was the Holy Spirit working through me. I’ll share one specific story with you now.

I was having lunch with a student on campus in late August. She left for a class, but something inside told me that I should wait a few more minutes. Pretty soon a girl came and sat at the table next to mine. Instantly, I got that nudging in my spirit. Only this time it was like a great big kick! I sat staring at the back of her head for a good ten minutes, and I began feeling that old familiar fear. Surely I had waited too long and it would be awkward to start a conversation now, right? I prayed for a clear opportunity to talk to her, and within a minute she started violently coughing. I jumped up and ran over to her to see if she was okay (she was), and asked if I could sit with her. She looked confused but allowed me to join her. I asked her if there was anything I could pray about for her, and she started to say no. I began wondering if I had heard the Holy Spirit wrong. This girl obviously doesn’t want to talk to me! But before I had a chance to excuse myself and dash, she suddenly remembered a crazy situation going on in her life that she DID need prayer about. So I prayed for her right then and there and thought that that was all I needed to do. But that nudging was even stronger. So I asked her about her spiritual background and found out that she hadn’t been to church in years and didn’t know what to believe. I quickly prayed for courage and for the words to speak, and then shared the Gospel with her. I had no idea how she would respond, because I couldn’t gauge her interest while I was talking. But when I asked if she wanted to receive Christ into her life at the end, I was surprised when she enthusiastically said “absolutely!” I walked her through a prayer and walked away amazed at what had happened.

That particular instance is something I’ve been reflecting on constantly. If I had allowed myself to dwell in my fear of witnessing like I used to do, I would have missed out on an amazing opportunity to help lead someone into a relationship with Christ. I thought of all the times I had ignored the Spirit’s prompting before because I was scared, and it saddens me.

I said in the beginning that I wasn’t sure if “brave” is even the word I should use for this story. But I know that because of the Lord, I truly am brave. Because of Him, I no longer have to live in fear.

Paul Part 2

The first time we see Paul – he’s still Saul at this point – he is at the stoning of Stephen. It seems to be a unimportant detail wedged into the end of Acts 7.

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Then we flip the page and read the very first sentence of chapter 8.

¹ And Saul approved of their killing him.

It goes on to say that persecution broke out and everyone was scattered except the apostles. Saul began to destroy the church.

Anybody else feel their heart breaking a little? Paul is this big hero of the missionary world. He spent most of his life sharing the gospel and writing the New Testament. I don’t know about you, but I think of Paul as a faith giant. But he’s not. Saul was a sinner. Saul tried to destroy the church.

By the way, I highly encourage you to go read the rest of Acts 8. It’s awesome, particularly verse 4. 

The next time we see him, Acts 9, he becomes a Christ follower and starts preaching! Now this is the guy that comes to mind when I think of Paul! Then we get to Acts 11 and we get to see some of the work he does alongside Barnabas.

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. ²⁰ Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²² News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.²⁴ He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

²⁷ During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹ The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. ³⁰ This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Saul, a wretched sinner who approved of the stoning of Stephen, worked with Barnabas in Antioch teaching them. This is when the term “Christian” came about. I love how God took something terrible – stoning and persecution – and turned it into something fantastic – growth of the church! The Christ followers scattered because of fear of death but instead of hiding or cowering, they used it as an opportunity to spread the word among the Jews and Greeks. 

I like the story of Saul so much because of the simple fact that he was absolutely wretched before he found Jesus and absolutely legendary afterwards. Friends, Jesus died for you. Not in spite of your past but because of it. Because of your sinfulness, you CANNOT stand before God and be called blameless. You will stand before Him one day. Will He call you righteous in that moment?

The only way to be counted as righteous before God is place your faith in Jesus Christ. That He died on the cross, paying for your sins. That He rose from the grave, conquering death. When you do that, when you trust Jesus, you are washed white as snow.

Friends, don’t let another day go by without trusting in Christ alone. Nothing stands in your way. No matter your circumstances, Jesus is waiting for you.