After the Journey to the Heart, when I came back home, I started seeking to reverse my past weakness and start sharing the Gospel with others. When that didn’t happen as soon and as easily as I had expected, I was tempted to get discouraged. But instead, I remembered that God will only use us when we’re “hot”. Last week, I was asked by a leader at our church to lead devotions at our weekly staff meeting. I felt led to talk about Revelation 3:15,16 and I was making the point that God will only use us as long as we are spiritually “hot”. So in order to practice what I preach, I made an effort the rest of the week to remain usable and “hot” for God.

The very next day, I was at my church when I saw four kids, around 8-10, playing around in the fountain. It turns out that they were from nearby apartments and had never heard about God’s plan for salvation. When I asked them to get out of the fountain, they asked me what the empty tomb (a replica of the tomb Jesus was supposedly buried in) was for. So I had the amazing opportunity to share the story of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection with them. And after I finished telling them about the way to be saved, they all wanted to ask Jesus to be their Savior! It blew me away that God could use me to impact those kids’ lives!

What also blew me away is that I did none of this on my own. When I put aside my weakness in speaking to others about God, I was able to be used by God to advance His Kingdom! God says in Exodus 4:12 “I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” Regardless of the fact that I did not know what to say, God spoke through my mouth to those boys. When I rendered myself usable for God, only then was I able to share with those boys.

~ Luke
April 2010 Guys Journey

After the official beginning of my Journey to the Heart, God led me to teach character to children for 3 semesters. My experience teaching character in schools and reaching out through Bible clubs has been nothing short of amazing.  To be on the front lines of the spiritual battle, watching God work in hearts, praying over souls, sharing God’s light in a dark world . . . I would not trade this opportunity for anything. I don’t want to give you a false impression, though, it is also a lot of work!

This is work that cannot be done alone!  Every lesson, every Bible club, and often each individual class, is bathed in prayer.  The best object lessons for a class I didn’t know what to do with came directly from the Master Teacher.  He is an everlasting source of ideas!  So many folks thought I had it all together, but I didn’t.  Only God and I were in it together, and He knows where all the pieces belong.

Interning with this character program also surrounded me with good friends: some that I knew for a season, and some that I will have for a lifetime.  God gave me the right kind of friends, who encouraged me to trust the Lord when life got rough, who made me do my best, and who even loved me enough to tell me when I was wrong. God bless those friends!

God used this opportunity to draw me to Himself and to allow more of His character to shine through me. The Journey to the Heart retreat was just the beginning of my Journey with God.  Stay in His Word, and keep talking with Him. God’s plan is simply amazing!

~ Barbara
September 2008 Journey

If you are interested in an opportunity to invest in the lives of children, please send a quick note to Chad Christiansen.

Once our hearts were clear, we were free and excited about communicating the love and power of God to others. We then prepared for our soulwinning outreach by asking difficult questions that non-believers might ask us about the Gospel, such as “How do you know God exists?” or “How do you know you are saved?” We answered the questions with Scripture and then each one of us prayed individually for the adventure on which we were about to embark!

Equipped with Gospel tracts, we hit the streets of New York City! Dividing up into three groups so that we could effectively reach more souls, we began to pass out tracts and talk to people about the Lord.

Nick Gomez from the July 2009 Journey reports: “Many were open. Many were not. But we praise God for the boldness He gave to share the Gospel. Sometimes we had to face rejection but it was actually a blessing to be rejected when we knew it is for the Lord!

At first, of course, you get nervous, but you ask God for the grace and He will provide all the boldness. After all, we are His instruments and everything we do is through Him! The only thing He does is use us.

So I would recommend to you if you are coming to the Journey, don’t come alone. If you really want to make God known, bring along friends that are really seeking God. Then you can do mighty works in your city just like God is beginning to do in the city of New York.”

Please pray for us as we have a vision to win New York City for Christ! In the next upcoming weeks we will be contacting the officials of our city to see how we can spread the Good News of the Gospel more effectively to the very needy people of our city!

~ Bryan Lafaurie
August 2008 Journey

In II Timothy 1:6 we read, “Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” The next verse explains the powerful gift of God that comes through the laying on of hands, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Fear had hindered me from many spiritual blessings, especially the blessing of witnessing to others. I would give out tracts but when it came to explaining the gospel I was disabled by fear.

Since receiving the laying on of hands, I have had a greater level of boldness and liberty to witness to others. In Acts 4:25 we read, “And now Lord, grant unto thy servant that with all boldness they may speak thy word.”

The Lord has opened many doors for me to boldly share the gospel. Wherever I go, there are hurting people that need to know the good news.

We were at a friend’s house and there was a girl that came who was having some health problems and was thinking a lot about eternity. The Lord prompted me to pray for her and to share the gospel with her.

The Lord gave me His boldness to ask her questions about what she thought she needed to do to go to heaven. She said, “If I tried really hard to obey the Bible and not to sin then I will be able to make it to heaven.” I then was able show her in Ephesians 2:8-9 that salvation is a free gift, “Not of works least any man should boast.” I shared that it is through Jesus that our sins our forgiven—not through our good works.

She broke down and wept and prayed to receive the free gift of salvation. She asked Jesus Christ to be her Lord and take “first place” in her life.

She thanked me over and over again and said, “I never understood until you explained it to me.” She went and told a lot of people what God just did in her life. She was full of joy and I was too, because I knew it was the Lord that did the work in her life.

I am so grateful to the Lord for removing my fear and replacing it with His boldness.

~ Priscilla
May 2008 Journey Guide