After I wrote my last post I realized that a lot of my first time doing something happened at the Harvest Crusade. Have you ever heard the story about the first time I was a decision follow up worker at the Harvest Crusade? Let me tell you about it.
I am not sure of the year. I don’t remember the bands. I don’t even remember what Greg’s message title was. All I remember is being really stressed out. I would say it was at least 8 or 9 years ago, maybe less.
They had the decision follow up worker class at the end of the Wednesday night study. This was before they were called Start Rallies. I had no clue what was going on. I just knew there were way more people than usual at service. I don’t remember the message I just knew I needed to sign up and give it a shot. Truth is the person speaking said even if you sign up doesn’t mean you have to do it. So I filled out the card. Not knowing what I was really getting myself into.
As the days went on I heard message after message about getting out of your comfort zone. Every time I read my bible I would read about stepping out in faith. Until the day of the Harvest Crusade came I decided after talking to my friend about it I would just give it a shot.
So Friday I walk out on the field and praying for wisdom and boldness. The moment comes after Greg said a prayer with the people. I just froze. I didn’t talk to anyone. I felt so disappointed. I had failed God. I called my friend and told him what happened. He told me “you didn’t fail you went farther than you have ever gone before. Just give it another shot tomorrow night”.
So Saturday I come and the same thing happened. I didn’t tell anyone. I just promised God I would try one more time the next night.
So Sunday comes and now I feel like the biggest failure in the world. I remember sitting next to my mom that night and been so stressed out. She asked me what was wrong. I told her I have to go down there and talk to a stranger about God. I am not sure what she said. But she is my mom and she is really smart so I am sure it was great. Because I went out on the field once again. This time as I walked down the stairs I prayed “God somehow make it so someone has to talk to me.” Seems like a crazy prayer. So a get to the grass and a supervisor stops me and says I want you to stand on the 3rd baseline and if someone tries to leave without a bible stop them and talk to them. In my mind I was like “say what?” It’s funny and I when I say funny I mean sad. That we are surprised when we pray and God answers. But that is a blog post for another day. So I stand there and guess what… no one talked to me… just kidding… A small group walked up to me and asked for a bible. And I went over the 4 points with them and prayed for them. I am not sure how well I explained things. But they were thankful.
I remember feeling so blessed. I had done something I had never done before. Something that was to be honest at the time the scariest moment of my life. But God showed up and gave me everything I needed. I know you are thinking don’t you speak in front of people and pray for people all the time? Yes but back then I was super shy and hardly talked. I know it’s hard imagine that.
This was the start of me stepping outside of my comfort zone to let God mold and shape me into what He wants me to be. It was something I looked back on many times to remind myself that when God calls me to do something He will show up and He will give me everything I need in the moment. After this I ended up doing decision follow-up at Sunday nights for a many years.
If you have never been a decision follow-up worker I would encourage you to try it out. You can take a test and sign up online on the Become a Decision Follow-Up Worker page at SoCal.Harvest.org.
Next time I will tell you about the first time I went street witnessing.
God bless you,
Rob