When I first began working as a pastor, I believed that when someone decides to follow Jesus for the first time, they need to make that decision while under my supervision somehow. I would be skeptical and believe a lot of intervention would be needed if someone made that decision on their own. I wanted to ensure it was legitimate and they fully understood what they were doing. Call it quality control...but that's the key word; CONTROL. I've since changed my view and come to understand that while yes God wants to use me as a vessel for the sake of His kingdom; I am not the one in control of how and when people follow Jesus.
The past few months have been a great example of this:
A few weeks ago, a student made the decision to follow Jesus for the first time after learning the gospel from two of her friends who regulary attend EDGE and AWC. Since then, she's shared that Jesus has changed her life. She's happier, she has found a greater community to belong to, and she's been learning and growing in her knowledge of God ever since.
Another student shared with me at Alpha that she recently placed her trust in Jesus after a friend shared the Gospel with her. This individual had been wrestling with depression and eating disorders and her friend noticed the trouble she was in and reached out. She was invited to youth group and later made the descision to follow Jesus after follow up conversations with the friend who invtied her. Since then, she no longer feels depressed and is eating.
THAT'S TWICE!! Students have shared their faith, seen their friends positively respond to the Gospel and be radically transformed by Jesus. Did I have something to do with that as the youth pastor? Maybe a little bit...but the faith and boldness of these students who are being used by God is the real difference maker.
We are each called by God to "Go and make disciples" and to be Jesus' "witnesses" (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). There may be times where we are too afraid to speak up about our faith, worried about how the person will respond or how they will look at you from now on. Sometimes, we can't think of the words to say or feel too self-conscious about what we're saying. Sometimes we want to control the outcome of how people respond; we have to remember that it is God who saves and not us. What I've seen though through these teens, is it only takes simple faithfulness and simple invitations to get people talking, responding, and changing.
