This past week, I was so very blessed to attend Worldview Academy. If you haven't heard of it, it is a Christian camp that focuses on teaching leadership, apologetics, different religions and worldviews. They bring in top notch speakers and give you hardcore lectures throughout the week.
On the first day, the camp director told us that if we didn't have the best week of our lives, we could find him on the last day and receive a full refund. At first I was thinking "wow, that's a pretty high-and-mighty statement!" but as the week went on, I realized that he knew what he was talking about. It was literally the best week of my life.
One amazing thing about Worldview Academy, is that they teach you about evangelism, and then in the middle of the week send you out to actually practice it. So on Wednesday, they handed us all these tracts, spent an hour or so talking about how to use them, prayed, and then headed to the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield to tell people about Jesus. I have to admit, I thought I was going to be sick beforehand. I was so scared about approaching people and
trying to sputter out the words that needed to be said.
We arrived at the campus, huddled in a group and said one last prayer for strength and clear minds before our director sent us off. I was still really nervous, but as we started walking, I was receiving more and more peace.
My group and I approached maybe 6 people, got the questions out, told them that Jesus had died for their sins, and handed them the tracts. It was going pretty well, but I was getting discouraged. I felt like we weren't really reaching the people we talked to, that we were just reading scripts and checking boxes.
Pretty soon, the 45 minutes that we had were up, and we headed back to camp to debrief.
People started talking about awesome conversations they had had with people, and one group had even succeeded in leading a man to Christ! You would think I would have been overjoyed, but I was still discouraged. The feelings of inadequacy were stronger now, and I started believing the lies that were telling me I hadn't done my job.
But then, yesterday as I was sharing this with some of my family members, this song came to my mind.
If it takes fifteen times
To hear about Jesus
For someone to believe
Wherever I stand in line
I've got to make a difference
In case it comes down to me
'Cause, I may be the third, may be the seventh
There may be years in between
But what if I'm fifteen
Man. I felt amazing relief after I realized that it's really not up to me. I am here to plant the seeds, whether I am the third or the seventh to plant them, I don't know. That's up to the Lord. But what if I'm fifteen?
What if you're fifteen?
{
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9}
