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God... Do I HAVE to?

 I find myself asking this question every single time I step on campus. Being a young adults ministry director, literally part of my job is being on campus for some of the students that are part of our ministry at "the awakening." I've stepped on campus hundreds of times, even for this specific reason, yet my heart is always a bit nervous every time I do. 

Evangelism is far from one of my spiritual gifts. No matter how outgoing I am, something about sharing the gospel with a total stranger is sometimes overwhelming. I spent an entire summer going six times a week to a college campus strictly to build relationships and share the gospel. I get the same feeling every time. Reluctancy, anxiousness, heck even LAZYNESS creeps in! I'm here to be honest guys.

It's these moments that I always think about all the fruit that has come from our presence on campus though. I think about the people currently a part of our ministry that wouldn't be had we not had a conversation. I think about how many people wouldn't have heard the gospel itself had we not had a conversation. I think about the people who were actually going through something and genuinely wanted prayer albeit they weren't a Christian but got prayed with and for because of our presence on campus. 

See, every time I have to have a spiritual conversation with someone that I haven't before, it is a bit nerve wracking. Yeah, the guy on staff at a church gets nervous just like you do! It's times like that, where I start to pray under my breath for God to build me up in courage and to tell me I will be alright. I remind myself that I'm not here to judge anyone, simply to tell them the truth:

We are all sinners. God is king and real. Rather than leaving us in our sin, He sent Jesus to come to earth and live a sinless life and ultimately die a death we should have. Days later He rose again, conquering death, the grave, and sin. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus has made it possible for us to have a personal relationship with God. Our wounds, our struggles, we don't rid them until we go to heaven, but we put ourselves in communion with the One being that can bring true healing and peace in the midst of chaos.

And if they want to know more about that, I share how Jesus has changed my life... a drug addict, a bully, a spoiled rotten son, a selfish and self-centered man. Through the self-destruction of my own life, Jesus has made things new.

I share all this to say when we put ourselves in the mindset of "this NEEDS to be shared" and we remind ourselves of all the things God has done in our lives, sharing the gospel becomes a lot less about us and all about the One who saved us.. that's how I find my rhythm when I go out sharing.

Romans 5:1-8
John 14:6



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