I have been continually challenged by God to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the students on the campus. I have embraced the challenge through one to one sharing about three times a week, and I have a few encounters that I would like to mention from earlier today.
I left my room this afternoon at about 1:30pm to get started with evangelism. I was walking next to the Murphree dorms toward the Racquet club when I saw a guy from my floor studying a calculus book. I noticed that this was someone that the Lord had laid on my heart to speak to. As I was walking, I reasoned to myself that he was probably too busy to talk, so I walked passed him saying to myself, "I will talk to him another time", but I stopped myself and turned around. I approached him and told him that I had a question for him that I have been wanting ask. I then asked him if he was going to heaven when he died. He said that he was because he believed that Jesus Christ could save us. He then admitted that he was not in fellowship nor did he read his Bible, so I probed further about what he meant about salvation, and believing in Jesus Christ. He seemed to have a basic understanding of salvation, though the articulation of his faith could have used some improvement. I then shared my testimony with him of how I got saved my freshman year in college. I encouraged him to get involved in fellowship, accountability and to desire the pure milk of the word (1 Peter 2). He said that it was interesting that I approached him because something happened to him that really caused him to turn back to God from wandering. I encouraged him a little more and invited him out to Gator Christian Life and my small group. He was not comfortable with coming out to the small group but said that he would check out the Sunday service.
Next, I approached a girl sitting on a bench reading a book next to Pugh Hall. I walked up to her and told her that I was asking students if they would go to heaven if when they died. She replied, "I don't want to talk about this". I then replied to her, "are you a Christian?" "Yes, Catholic", she said. I then ended with, "I want to encourage you that if you are not sure where you are going, please think about this because this is one of the most important things in life". She smiled, nodded, and I was on my way to speak with another person about their soul.
I then took a walk through Turlington Plaza to see if I could spot a friend who preaches with a pvc pipe cross, but he was not there, so I walked over next to Chik-Fil-A and Einsteins Bagels. I saw two guys chatting with one another at a picnic table. I approached and told them that I was asking students if they would go to heaven when they died. They both quickly answered, "no" and I said "why is that?" They told me that they were atheists and that the they did not have sufficient evidence for the existence of God. They said that the one making the statement needed to provide the proof. So, I gave them my proof for God's existence with a simple creator/creation argument and order/orderer argument. They did not agree, but I objected with the fact that something cannot come from nothing. They admitted that science did not have the answer of where everything came from. I then found out that they both had an exposure to Christianity growing up. I asked them if they would consider themselves to be good people, they both thought so. One of them even said that he would have a chance of getting into heaven if it was real! So I walked them through God's Law, the Ten Commandments. They both admitted they were guilty, not good according to that standard and that they would go to hell if it was real! However, I did not directly proceed to the gospel because they had absolutely no concern, and did not think that it was true. They then began to question me about the validity of the Bible, and the reasonableness of the existence of the God of the Bible versus the existence of the Greek gods. We went off on a huge tangent about the books that did not make it into the Bible and the Justice of God. I indirectly shared the gospel with the two guys while explaining the difference between the old and new covenants. After about 20 minutes of conversation they had to go to class. They told me that it was one of their hobbies to talk about this subject.
I then saw a guy sitting under a tree eating and studying. I walked past him and thought myself ("I shouldn't approach him because he is studying
After I talked with them, I continued to look for another person to proclaim the gospel to. I went in front of Chik-Fil-A and saw a guy sitting a concrete wall smoking a cigarette. I got really excited and approached him. When I got close to him I saw that he was a guy that I talked to a few weeks before. He is not a Christian, but I can tell that he is in a mini-search mode. I talked with him for a little while about class and how he was doing. I then asked him his opinion about Jesus Christ. He then had to leave to get on a bus that he was waiting for. I got his email address, and I will try to talk to him further about these things.
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