Week 2

On the surface, there's no reason why today should have been such a great day. It rained earlier, then snowed. Now the ground is a sheet of ice, and the sky is still gloomy. On top of that, all the free cupcakes that miraculously found their way into my house yesterday were gone by this morning. Did I really need that fifth cupcake last night? Maybe not, but probably definitely yes.

The one bright spot of the day was the fact that my late-afternoon brass sectional for an upcoming concert of Broadway show tunes (two hours of off-beats) was canceled. So how did I celebrate this unexpected free time? Well, I started off by wasting a half hour on Facebook. Then I ate some party mix for about 5 minutes. Then I checked Facebook to see if I had missed anything, and I stayed there for another 30 minutes.

Eventually, it occurred to me that I love Jesus (I really need to stop forgetting) and that I should probably get off my bum and do something productive. Unfortunately, that thought alone did absolutely nothing for me in the way of motivation, so I spent a few minutes alone with Jesus, just praying with absolutely no agenda except to spend time with Jesus. And what do you know! My day got better.

Then Jesus suggested that I go out and preach the Gospel. My housemate Peter was in the adjacent room practicing his cello when this all went down, so I asked him if he wanted to join me. 10 minutes later, we met up at school and embarked on our adventure.


WEEK 2: Preaching the Gospel with Peter

Once again, I don't know much in the way of results. The unbelievers who spoke with us generally didn't seem too interested, and arguing seemed counterproductive, so we scattered whatever spiritual seed we could and then went on our way. If my objective in this Gospel experiment was a high number of (initial) salvations, today would be a sad day indeed. But I'd like to think I want what Jesus wants, and Jesus really cares about building up his church. And on that front, it was an eventful hour.

More than half the people Peter and I met today are Christians. It begs the questions: Are there really this many Christians already here? And if CWRU really is 30-50% Christian (which admittedly might not be true), why does Jesus have such a low impact on campus? What good does it do to have a gazillion Christians on campus but virtually no Jesus? What can we do apart from Jesus? We're sinners. Apart from Jesus, we're kinda pathetic. Are we somehow better than unbelievers when it comes to helping others or consoling others? If we want suffering people to stop suffering, we don't need empathy. We need Jesus! He's the one who can help! He's the one who can console!

Anyway, once Peter and I arrived at the Thwing Center (the same building in which Rex and I went 6 days prior), we didn't waste time. In fact, I could hardly keep up with him. I was shocked at his boldness. At one point I turned to him to ask, "Should we talk to that person next?", but before I could open my mouth he had already walked over and started a conversation. I think we freaked out an entire room in 30 seconds flat. It was great!

Once everybody within 20 feet knew what was going on, my first instinct was to find another room. Not Peter. Even from the very first conversation, I saw people in the background shrink away. As soon as it was obvious that the first conversation wasn't going anywhere, we thanked her for her time, and Peter made a beeline for those same people. And you know what? We got somebody's contact information! He wanted to know more about some of the on-campus fellowship that happens throughout the week.

He may have been uncomfortable at first; he wasn't a terribly serious Christian. He said he thought he would get more serious about Jesus after he got settled down with his career. The conversation turned for the better when one of us asked him, "What's your major?". After that, he didn't need much convincing to realize that as a premed student, his life is probably far more settled now than it will be once he's a doctor.

After another encounter or two I finally vocalized my concern that we were scaring onlookers, so we left the room and headed outside. Once outside, we got blown off a few times, but had a few really awesome conversations, mostly with believers. This one guy, Sam, decided to follow the Lord when he was robbed at gunpoint. Interesting technique- maybe I'll try this method of evangelism later. Sam also gave us a phone number, so hopefully I'll see him again soon.

We got an email address from another Christian named Chris. Here's a fun fact: today wasn't the first time I had met him. We had last seen each other months ago on a miserable rainy day when I just happened to be carrying a few extra umbrellas with Gospel messages attached. Apparently he liked his gift and the fact that Peter and I were preaching the Gospel in 20º(F) weather, so he wasn't against the idea of hanging out with us in the future. He figured at first that we were charismatics (I'm not entirely sure that I'm not), which sparked a short conversation about healing and miracles and that time a few days ago when God fixed our washing machine (true story).

Peter didn't even want to approach this one premed student because he felt uncomfortable talking to such a beautiful woman. Let that be a lesson to you, all you single men. Preaching the Gospel is a great way to meet attractive single Christian women. Motivated? Anyway, we invited her to Friday Christian Fellowship (FCF) and got an email address. Then we went home.



Both of us finished the hour with more energy than when we started (not because of the beautiful premed student). You know, some people think the Christian life is boring. They think the Bible disallows anything fun. They don't have a clue! Preaching the Gospel was the highlight of my week! I need to do this more often!

Great day.