A Story of Salvation from NY: Austin Wilkins

Wednesday, June 17, 2010, our youth group set off to go door to door inviting people to a local block party. In doing this, we had doors shut in our faces, and people yelling at us for no apparent reason. Despite all of this, God gave us the strength we needed to continue on and invite people to the block party. What all of us prayed to accomplish that day was to share the gospel with those who had never heard. Most of the people we talked to made it sound quite obvious that they did not know the gospel, nor did they wish to. In saying that, there was one man who we found that did not act at all like those we had meet that day.

Born and raised in Staten Island, NY, Dan did not know who Jesus was. When Laura, a member of the mission team from Virginia, and I approached him with our Block Party invitations, he seemed really exited but regretful to tell us that he could not make it. He said he was going to be in a missions bike ride on Saturday. Of course, this led us to ask him if he went to Church and if he knew who Jesus was. What followed after that question was completely surprising to me. Dan said that he was Catholic and for sometime attended church regularly, but had absolutly not clue who Jesus was, so we asked if we could share with him. Dan then did something that we had not seen all day, he actually sat down and ask us to please tell him. The tone of his voice and the look on his face made us realize that we had found someone who really wanted to hear of Gods wonderful gift.

We then sat there and told him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will tell  you this with total confidence, when he prayed to God, accepting Christ into his heart, we knew that he was truly sincere. The sound in his voice, the look on his face, and that he almost seemed to act as if a 100 lb. weight was taken off his back. He then thanked Laura, Tim, Andrea, and my self for doing what we had been doing that day (Tim and Andrea were also in our group and joined in the conversation about 10 minutes in). For a good 30 more minutes we stayed there and continued to answer any questions he had.

Some things that you might want to know about Dan is that he is a former alcoholic, who is going to AA. We told him that he should not blame God that he was an alcoholic but that he should use what he has gone through to help others get away from alcohol. God has a plan for this man, and all of us could tell it. I just want to thank everyone at OCBC and at Salem Church for putting this together. What is being done up here is truly a great thing.

~Austin

A Students View on the NY Mission Trip: DeAnna McEntire and Emily Pate

Every day is an opportunity for ministry, but not many of us always take that opportunity. Today, we had the chance and took the opportunity to share. We divided into groups of four that were mixed with the other church groups. Our goal was to go door to door throughout Staten Island and invite people to Salem Church's block party. Not only this, but we also hoped to take the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ.

We had a surprising mix of results. Our experience involved many mean dogs, many slammed doors, and many unfriendly people, and also a few that were receptive. By lunchtime we were already somewhat discouraged, but we remembered the words of John Welborn the night before, when he spoke of how God made the footsteps of three lepers sound like an army in 2 Kings 7. In the same way, the flyers we passed out to a few unreceptive people in New York City could bring people to Christ.

God always works in mighty ways, even when it is unexpected. One person in our group, Austin Wilkins, had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. He shared the story of the conversion with all the youth and it was very encouraging. Austin will write more about this tomorrow.  After a tiring day of dealing with people who brush us off, it was great to know that someone came to Christ. This is the entire reason we came here to New York, even if it was just one person.

Emily and DeAnna

NY Trip: Day 2

Today was a tiring day. We spent the day painting the apartment of a local family, or should I say family. There were to families sharing a 3 room apartment, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a small kitchen. Each family had a bedroom to essentially serve as their house. there were three beds in one room and a crib and two beds in the other. It was a humbling experience as we often complain about not having the newest, nicest things, while these families were essentially living in an 8x10 room. Because of the language barrier we were unable to strongly communicate with them residents, though we were able to tell the story of Jesus as best we could to the little girl that lived in the house who spoke English very well. Overall, the youth put forth a great days work and we are excited about tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be going throughout the community, mainly knocking door to door, inviting people to the block party on Saturday and hopefully having the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ Jesus with them. I trust in the Sovereignty of God and know that there will be some among those with which we will talk that He is calling to Himself and that we will be able to share the gospel with some and see some come to salvation. Please be in prayer for us, that we will have boldness and will clearly communicate the gospel and God will save some. Tomorrow will be a report from one of the students on what has taken so place over the week so far.

NY Trip: Day 1

Today was a day of travel. We arrived to the hotel around 4:45pm and headed out the church around 5:30. The trip overall went alot smoother and seemed alot shorter than I had imagined it would. I have to say the most surprising part of the day was the food they had for us tonight. The food is being cooked by an actual chef that works in the city. I am used to pizza or other food that is thrown together, but not tonight. We had roast beef with a mushroom sauce, peas, and garlic mashed potatoes.

After dinner we got together for a time of worship. Pastor Eddie did a great job of laying out again why we are here, pointing us back to the power of the gospel and how proclaiming it to the people here is the purpose in us coming. I covet your prayers for us while we are here. Tomorrow we will be painting a house in the community and the rest of the week we will be out in the community engaging the people of the area. Pray that God move in a mighty way among the people we encounter.

What is the World Coming To?

This past Sunday, May 30, there was a shooting at the local Target that shook this community.  A man walked into the store and shot an employee of the store and then turned the gun on himself.  This is something that people in this community knew happened in the world, but was something we never thought would happen in our town.  Since this time I have heard many people discussing the tragic events that took place, and normally the conversation turns to a statement like "What is this world coming to?" or "Nowhere is safe anymore."  While there is no denying that evil is everywhere and that crime  around us is a reality, I think that the meaning of these questions and statements go deeper than they may appear on the surface.  Often the tone of these statements and the conversation that surrounds them implies that the communicator has the understanding that if people would just act like they did in the "good old days" then everything would be right in the world.  After thinking about this the past few days the question has come to me, what should the church's answer be to the growing reality of depravity around us?

The Wrong Answer

First I want to expose the answer that is normally given for the erroneous statement that it is.  If one looks at the strategies, programs and sermons that are often given in church, one could easily be led to believe that the answer to the problems in the world is simply good morality.  From the mindset that if people would simply clean up their act and live like they were supposed to, to how to live a better life sermons that pervade today's pulpits, it seems that churches are convinced that a change in morality will cure the problems that face the world today.  Proclaiming morality will at best mask the symptoms, but it will never cure the disease.  Solving the problems of evil in the world today by teaching morality is like trying to cure emphysema with a cough drop.  When looking at the issues in the world around her, the church cannot believe that lie that people just simply need better morality.

The Cure:

So what is the answer?  The church cannot ignore the issues in the world around her, nor can she successfully seclude herself from the world and remain oblivious to the needs that exist.  However, if the church is going to be effective in addressing the affects of the disease of sin that is so prevalent around her, she must administer the right cure.  So what is this cure?  Quite simply, it is the message of the gospel.  It is proclaiming Christ and Him crucified in every message and to every person.  It is realizing that the problem is not bad morality, but sin that has separated us from the Creator God and led us into death. The world is not going to change by changing itself, rather true change will only come through an encounter with the Living God through the cross of Christ Jesus.  This is what we must proclaim as a church, this must be our remedy, for it is the only remedy with any affect.

We must rexamine the way we look at the world.  As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:16 we must no longer see people "according to the flesh" but view them as people made Imago Dei who are seperated from a Holy God and in need of a Savior, not a behavior change.  Proclaim Christ and the new life that is in Him, not good behavior.