Being Jesus' Messenger by Tyler S

Reshif—a Muslim Imam—and I have our similarities. We’re both in our mid-twenties, we’re young fathers, and we grew up in the U.S. After shooting the breeze, I ask. “How are the events in Paris affecting your community?”

“Honestly, we are anxious. Mosques are being graffitied and receiving threats. Our own children are being bullied in schools. We are afraid politics amplify people’s fears of Muslims because of ISIS. We don’t even support ISIS.”

“How can I help?”

“You can tell your friends, ‘Muslims are peaceful people who want to raise their children in a safe place, give them a good education and that we simply want to be good members of society.” Later that week I saw Reshif, “Hey Reshif! I shared our conversation with a friend of mine. As a result he is willing to think differently about Muslims in general.” Reshif exclaimed, “Come. Share this with the youth class.” There were thirty young men in the Mosque “This is Tyler. He is a good neighbor of ours. He is a devout practicing Christian who teaches Bible studies at Columbia and will share his views about Muslims.”

Here is a portion of the speech, “Through conversing and finding respect for one another we tear down barriers. We do not compromise our faith by sharing in conversations. Instead, we learn where people are coming from and what they really believe. For example, I learned that most Muslims do not support ISIS. Talk to me and you will learn many Christians actually listen to people’s hearts.”

Walking away from the Mosque, I marveled at being made a Christian guest speaker in a Muslim Mosque. In addition, it was the Muslim Imam who introduced me as speaking in Jesus’ name. Ultimately, I was thankful for the 30 Muslims who may now see Christians as those who just might…bring good news. Through conversations like these, we can help open up people's hearts to Jesus' messengers and to His message.

Conversational Evangelism by Seth Bouchelle

“Had a ball with u (sic). Love the conversations.” When the text lit up my phone screen, it took me by surprise. And it would be difficult to explain sufficiently what a victory, however small, a message like this one is. It was my friend Manny who sent it to me and I’ve been sharing the gospel with Manny for over a year. Born in Puerto Rico but raised in the South Bronx, Manny grew up selling dope on street-corners and fighting for the honor of the neighborhood gang. His mother was heavily into voodoo and his siblings have been in and out of the penitentiary. When I met Manny, he took pride in telling others that he is not a religious person. Recently, though, I’ve seen a change in Manny. He has added something to his usual hustle. “I’m not a religious person,” he has begun to say, “but this is my pastor, and he’s got me thinking differently about this stuff.” I’ve noticed a change in Manny’s friends and family too. When I come over now, after we exchange greetings, it has become normal for someone to ask, “Is it time to do church now?” Or when someone drops by Manny will smile and say, “You see what we’re doing now, this is church.”

Back to the text message in question, the night before Manny had called me while I was on train home. It was obvious that he was having problems at home, so I got off a stop early and headed over to his place. We sat on the porch, while Manny smoked, and I shared one of Jesus’ parables with him. Manny loves to listen to parables and explaining to me what they mean. It wasn’t an altar call, it wasn’t a Damascus road experience, Manny actually didn’t even seem that interested or attentive this particular night, but the next day there was the text on my phone. “...Love the conversations.” We never know where we are going to find good soil, but Jesus tells us to sow indiscriminately and see if God won’t grow fruit where we least expect. There is a whole harvest to be found in our global city, and we at GCMI are joyfully laboring to bring it in.