Another Conversion at Lincoln!

Hello, friends!

Yesterday was another day at Lincoln and another fun story!

A few weeks ago, I told you about Mix It Up Day and meeting R randomly when she stopped by my table to sit and eat lunch with us. We had a great conversation and I told her about the bible study that we normally do at 2pm on Wednesdays. She normally has class at 2pm so last week, I asked her if she wanted to do a GIG with me, which is what we call our non-Christian bible studies. She agreed and we set up for yesterday @ 3pm after she got out of class.

Her big questions are about finding her calling in life. She wants to do something great but she also wants to make sure she isn't making the wrong decisions. I decided that we could spend time studying the life of Peter, from his calling, to his mistakes, to his redemption, to his leadership.

The first thing that I like to do when I start Bible studies with non-Christians is ask them how close they are to Jesus. I take an index card and draw an arrow across the center. A little bit to the right of center I put a cross, signifying the point where someone would consider themselves a Christian. I ask students to put themselves somewhere on the spectrum, then put the date at that spot. I tell them that my hope is that by the end of our bible study series, they will be closer to Jesus then before, even if they don't decide the follow Jesus.

I wanted to break the ice a little so I said, "of course, if you wanted, you could decide to become a Christian right now!" fully expecting to get a chuckle then moving on with the bible study. Instead, the response I got was, "is it really that easy?"

R's understanding was that first you needed to pray a prayer (true), then get baptized (there are disagreements as to how necessary this is), then get your life right (false) before you can call yourself a Christian. I was able to explain to her that it's actually the opposite; first Jesus makes us right, then we start to act right as a response to him changing our lives. I asked her again if she wanted to become a Christian today and she said yes!

We prayed together, then went through the Bible study. She really responded to the idea of God having a calling for her life that may be in line with the gifts she's already been given. It was a good day.

Please join me in praying for R. Pray that she will continue to grow in her faith and that she will grow in her sense of mission on campus.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam