Can I Get a Witness?

 I accepted Christ as my Lord and savior around 7^th grade and within a year, I felt God call me to pastoral ministry. If you know me, you know, as my dad puts it, that I don’t wade into anything. When I am in, I am all the way in. So it should be no surprise that by the time I was in high school, I was really involved in my church and serious about being Jesus’ disciple.

            

 At that time we had a pastor who was really into witnessing and inviting people to church. I remember getting yelled at from the pulpit, with visitors in the second row, about how he was the only one actively inviting people to church. I remember him telling us during youth group about how this was the easiest time in our whole lives to invite people to worship because we were in school. Well, I didn’t agree with him on either point, because I was constantly sharing my faith and inviting people to church…and just as constantly hearing no. Everyone it seemed had an excuse, and many of my closest friends had their own church.

It is because of that rejection that I so remember inviting Misty to church. I was better friends with her friend than with her, and had invited and been told she already had a church by said friend. So when I invited Misty to church, I remember that I was totally not prepared when she said yes. In fact, I already had started to say, “That’s alright, I just wanted to offer,” when she said yes. This hadn’t happened for years! I didn’t even know what to do!

Deanne, Me and Misty in Front row w/ our Youth Group

After I got over the initial shock, I asked her where she lived, and made arrangements to pick her up on Sunday. She came very faithfully, and continued to after I had moved away. Now she is serving at another church in a ministry for families with children with disabilities. I am amazed every time I get one of her posts on Facebook of how God has made her into a disciple that transforms the world, and how God used me, despite myself, in that process.

Being a witness is all about pointing to what God is doing and inviting others to be part of it. I have learned over the years that being a witness for me means being me. For me that means being open about who I am as a disciple and where I see God working, being overexcited about the things happening at church (remember that all-in thing?), and to keep asking others to join along. Because who knows? There may be another Misty out there that just needs to be asked…