Back on Campus at Little Priest

It’s great to be back on campus after over a month of recovery from a bad case of mono. I’m still trying to be wise in how I spend my time and in not pushing myself too hard physically, but a couple of weeks ago I kind of re-entered the world of Nebraska Catalytic and got the opportunity to join a couple of my teammates and visit the Indian reservations of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes.  We had never been to Little Priest Tribal College (LPTC) before, so we took the 2-hour drive to northeast Nebraska to see where God is moving in that part of the state.

My teammate Beth and I met two students, Luke and Adrian, in the computer lab of LPTC. We sat down and initiated a spirtitual conversation with them, using a tool known as a QuEST survey (Questions Exploring Students’ Thinking). On the survey are questions such as: what happens after death, and how would you answer someone with the question of how to become a Christian? These are great questions to engage in spiritual conversations with anyone, and using them on campus or anywhere is really effective. But these questions alone do not share the Gospel, or invite someone to make a decision for Christ.  As we talked with Luke and Adrian, I was praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with them and relying on the Spirit to get us to that point. The doors kept opening, and these guys were really responsive to our questioning of their spiritual beliefs. Eventually Adrian made the comment that he’d like to be forgiven of his sin, but he was sure he had done too many bad things to deserve forgiveness. His reasoning was that he’d wait to do some good things before he would ask for forgiveness. What an amazing opening for the Truth of the Gospel to be shared!

We jumped right through that door and explained to Adrian the truth of his spiritual condition and the message of salvation by grace and through faith.  He (and Luke) asked great questions and was honest about his doubt and fear.  After over an hour of talking with these two guys, we gave the invitation to both of them to accept Christ and be free from that fear and doubt in their lives.  In sharing the Gospel, it’s our responsibility to take the initiative, and it’s God’s to take care of the results. The results in this case were both Adrian and Luke indicating that this wasn’t the right time for them, but they were grateful for what we’d shared with them, and we gave them Bibles and our contact info in case they would need it.

Sharing the Gospel is refreshing and real. It’s hard to see students wrestling through lies and captivity, but I have assurance that God wants their hearts, and He will keep pursuing students like Luke and Adrian long after I leave.

~ by karensharp on October 14, 2008.