Story #1

A while back we were leading a VBS at a country church. On the final evening, a tall man walked through the doors. Even though his wife and daughter came to church regularly, he rarely came with them. But on this night, his little girl had tugged on his heart to attend. He came because she invited him.

As we shared the Gospel that night, we spoke about God’s love, how our sin separates us from Him, and how God can save anyone who is willing to receive Him.

At the end of the church service, this tall, rough-looking man turned to his wife and said, “I’m never coming back here again.” He stormed out of the church and sped off in his pickup.

I remember seeing the wife and the pastor’s wife praying and crying on the front pew of the church. The wife and daughter waited for about an hour before going home. She wanted to give him time to “cool off.”

When she arrived home, his pickup was in the driveway but he wasn’t in the living room. She opened the bedroom door. There he was. She could tell that he had been crying.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But when I heard them say that God could forgive anyone, it made me mad because I knew that God could never forgive me.”

Then he continued to explain how he had gone home, gone in the bedroom, and in anger, he had begun telling God all the reasons why he could never be forgiven, all the reasons why God could never love Him.

“Suddenly,” he said, “I found myself on my knees. It was like there was a presence in the room that I had never felt before. I found myself telling God that if he would take me, I would come. I don’t know how to explain it, but God saved me tonight.”

Story #2

A few weeks ago, during a Sunday evening worship service, a man in his early-thirties, entered the back of the worship center about 20 minutes late. I was already sharing and he caught my eye as he entered. He was tall and looked somewhat cowboy. I noticed him because he awkwardly stood at the back of the room for a few moments before finally taking a seat by himself. As I shared, I noticed how he sat, leaning forward, listening intently. Finally, as invitation time came, he stood up. He walked slowly toward the aisle and paused, almost as if deciding whether to come to the front or to leave the room. At last he turned and walked toward the pastor at the front. They spoke and I watched the pastor open his Bible. They sat off to the side and continued talking even after the service ended. Later I learned the rest of the story:

This young man had never been to church before. He was passing by and said that it seemed like something inside him said, “You need to go in there.” So he did. He heard the Gospel, about how Jesus died and rose again and how only Jesus can take our sins away and give us new life. That night, at the age of 33, he prayed and gave his life to Christ.