FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Juan was sitting by the baseball diamond in Rosemont Park when a team of seminarians saw him. In need of a job, Juan knew he needed prayer, but on this Friday afternoon an even greater need would be met.
Five students from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary had gone there that day, July 29, to evangelize.
When two of the student evangelists happened upon Juan, they broke the ice by asking him for prayer requests, and he answered by sharing his need for employment.
Before praying, however, the students asked the diagnostic question: “If you were to die today and stand at the gates of heaven, and God asked you why He should let you in, what would you say?”
Juan did not know how to answer. The Southwesterners, knowing that his eternal status far outweighed his search for employment, shared the Gospel with him using the Romans Road.
They explained that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but God demonstrated His love for humanity by sending Jesus to die in their place, even while they were still sinners. Then, rising from the dead, Jesus offered the free gift of eternal life to all who would believe in Him and confess Him as Lord. This same gift, they continued, is still available today.
Now confronted by such an extraordinary message, Juan was asked an additional question: “Would you like to pray to accept Jesus as Lord?” Much to the evangelists’ delight, Juan said “yes” and proceeded to pray by himself, surrendering to the lordship of Jesus Christ and receiving God’s gracious gift of eternal life. Though his temporary problem of unemployment remained, his eternal trajectory had been forever changed.
As Juan and the Southwestern evangelists celebrated his new life, high school students Orlando, Nico and Jose also encountered the transformative power of the Gospel. Hanging out by the playground at the Fort Worth, Texas, park, the teens were engaged by the other three Southwestern evangelists.
In the midst of their discussion, the seminarians discerned that God was already at work in the students’ lives, particularly Orlando’s. He told them that he had prayed just the night before, asking God for forgiveness. Additionally, he said this was his third time listening to a Gospel presentation by someone from Southwestern.
As it turned out, this third occasion was just what Orlando needed to accept the Gospel message. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, he, along with both of his friends, prayed to receive Christ, and the Southwesterners soon put them in touch with a local church. They also showed them how to download the Bible app on their phones and encouraged them to start reading the book of John.
Master of divinity student Daniel Moon, who was part of the latter team of evangelists, said of the four professions of faith that day, “It was another day of seeing God already at work and also being thankful for those who went before us to plant the seeds. We were just at the right place at the right time.”
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