Death to Life

After approximately nine hours of traveling, a restless night's sleep, and my body adjusting to a three hour time zone change, I walked into the Spokane Convention Center.  I’d heard stories from my husband, John, about what God was and is doing in the lives of university students in the Pacific Northwest.  I was ready to observe it for myself.

To truly comprehend the significance of this movement in this area of our nation, one must understand that the Pacific Northwest is the most lost area of our nation.  Mormonism, Wicca, secularism, and atheism dominate this area.  Many cities in the Pacific Northwest have less than 1% of their population who claim to be followers of Christ. 

John was to be the opening speaker at the Resonate Conference, a conference which brings students and young adults together to be transformed through the teaching of God’s word, worship and prayer.  It is sponsored by a network of churches called Resonate Network, which currently consists of 15 churches all on secular college campuses.  

As I watched hundreds of students fill up the convention center to nearly capacity, my heart was full.  Most of these students met Christ in the last year or two and many had still not met Him.   Yet, here they were to sing worship music and listen to the preaching of God’s word and then be challenged to apply it to their lives.  

Before the conference began, I sat down to interview three students.  All three are now leaders at one of the 15 churches.  All three met Jesus Christ their freshman year at their prospective universities.  I asked them one question:  How did you become a follower of Christ?  They each described what they call their “death to life” stories, their salvation experience.   And each of them used the same phrase over and over without the others realizing it.

Here is the phrase:  “They treated me differently.”   “They” meaning students in the Resonate network of churches who were already followers of Christ.  When I asked them to describe what that meant here are some phrases they used:

• They cared about ME!

• They asked me what I wanted to do with my life.

• They let me ask them hard questions about Jesus.

• They listened to me.

• They were there for me when I was at my lowest point.

  
  

One young man said, “My partying friends didn’t care about me, they just wanted to party with me.  My Resonate friends actually wanted to “be” with me.” 

And they all said the following, “Because they treated me differently and truly cared about me, when they did share the Gospel with me, I was ready to listen.  I knew they loved me.”

The leaders of Resonate told us that 85% of these students began their relationship with Christ outside of a Sunday worship service.  In other words, through a relationship with another student. 

The Spokane Convention center did fill up Friday night through Sunday night with close to 2,000 students.   Truly God is at work in the Pacific Northwest.  

Yet, here is what the Lord said to me and I leave us with this challenge.

How do you treat people?  The server, the repairman, the mechanic, your co-worker, your boss, your spouse, your child?

Do you listen?  Do you show kindness?

On an average day, how many people would say about me or you:

“That person must care about me because they treated me differently.”

Do we not share the Gospel with others, because we don’t see ourselves as being a good representation of who Jesus is?  “Gospel” means “good news”. Are we “good news” to others?

Or, are we a difficult and demanding person waiting to be served?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control..”  Galatians 5:22:23

Lord, fill me with your Spirit so that I may treat others as You would treat them.

May I develop relationships with others so that they, too, will have a “death to life” experience in Christ.