Photo by Katie Reece.
On a busy summer day of classes at University of Central Florida, Adam and Ashley could have picked anyone. The scattered masses of students seated on benches and tables near the student union gave them a wide selection.
But during this time of outreach with the Orlando Operations summer project, they chose to speak to a man who wasn’t quite ready to talk with them. As they walked up to him, they realized he was on the phone.
Instead of walking away, they patiently waited for him to finish his conversation.
Adam, a student on the project, and Ashley, a Cru staff member, prayed for the man and sat at a nearby bench for 15 minutes until he was free to talk to them.
After introducing themselves, they used the Soularium tool to learn about his life through pictures. Tony had a passion for helping the homeless and he cared about others, but he didn’t know God personally. He thought good acts were enough. So Adam told him about the God of grace and love. He simply shared what he had come to believe about Jesus.
Adam went through the gospel without a tool because they had run out of Knowing God Personally booklets that day.
He says the experience shows that resources are helpful, but people should not depend on them to evangelize.
“If you rely on tools too much, you take away the power from God and the Holy Spirit,” he says.
Tony connected with the story of salvation. He wanted the truth of the Bible in his life and he had thought about it before, but no one explained it to him in a way that he could fully understand.
Throughout the conversation, Tony’s phone was constantly buzzing. But he didn’t flinch once. He wasn’t distracted.
He was captivated by the message.
When Adam asked him if he would like to pray to ask Jesus to come into his life, Tony said yes. He accepted Christ’s gift of new life that day, without hesitation.
Tony is 1 of 5 people to come to Christ this summer with the Orlando Operations Summer Project students.
Each Wednesday they take a full day off from work at Cru headquarters to reach out to students on the UCF campus.
“The Holy Spirit changes lives, not us,” Adam says. “We don’t have to say eloquent words to try to convince people. We just need to be real and honest with people and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.”
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