I've never been a brilliant one at Evangelism as I don't like to force what I believe down peoples throats, it is a very good way to lose friends! All the same, most people who know me know that I'm a Christian and I felt that I ought to just say a little about it in these pages and if you're interested then either have a look at some of the links or drop me a line and if I cant help you then I am very sure that I can put you in touch with someone who can!!
Right well I find this kind of thing very difficult so please bear with me and I hope that this makes some sense. Dont forget that you should also look up the following little things which are absolutely excellent and far more coherent than anything th at I could possibly say:
I can't really tell you how long I've been a Christian and I certainly can't tell you of my dramatic conversion, it would have perhaps been kind of nice to be struck down blind on the M1 like good old Paul (that is the bloke in the bible; Acts Ch.9), just when you were off on your way to beat up the local youth club on their way out of church on a Friday night, at least you can then go and tell everyone exactly what happened and wasn't it amazing etc etc. Well I'm afraid that I have no such exciting stories, my parents were both Christians and I got dragged along to Sunday School as you do and I did my little classes where you get to learn Bible stories and then do exams on them but before it really finished me off I went to sing at the Cathedral. There I was introduced to a very different kind of Church, it may not have had the smells but it certainly had the bells! Anyway to cut a long story short I was there for a good while and I did all the right things like getting confirmed and whatnot and this that and the other and I was even one of the bods who carried candles and crosses in procession for a while. But, you know it was dead easy to just go on with everything and go with the flow and do what everyone else was doing. I went on all the weekends away and did the associated Bible studies, I did the school Christian Union, so I was even in the right clubs. It was quite good fun!
After a while I moved on from the Cathedral and started going to one of the most (in(?))famous churches in Sheffield, St. Thomas' Crookes. I had a great time there as the music was much more up beat and you could get far more into what you were doing. o make things even better they had quite a few good concerts from people like Jo King and Iona (and if you haven't heard of them I assure you they are rather good, especially the latter) and to top it all I even went there with an ex-girlfriend! So basically that was great fun.
Then came University. I used to enjoy drama and singing at school and thought that the Gilbert and Sullivan society would be a fairly safe bet for a good laugh, and then the more people I met there, the more I found who were in this strange Methang thing. After a lot of persuasion I went along and seemed to enjoy it and got rather involved to the point of planning services, leading prayer evenings and eventually joining the committee (bad move, never join a committee) and it was all great fun. I also joined yet a different type of church, this time a Baptist one (and a very fine institution it is too!).
Well you now understand why I say that my conversion was so undramatic I hope that assumes that you have hadthe perseverance to get this far as you evidently have! Anyway, somewhere in the middle of that this God bloke managed to wheedle his way into my life through some medium or other. I know that when I was at my good old Methodist Church I knew who this God person was and I knew all about the things that his little son Jesus had done and how he was just such a nice person and nice to everyone but I certainly didn't know him or what he wanted or even what he wanted to give me. And now when I look back a little more carefully I can see all these things that he has been doing through my life, helping me through exams, looking after my family, finding me my wife and how in actual fact he has been there all the time and will be there for as long as I want him to be, helping me through and looking after me and those who are dear to me.
You see I believe that God knew that the only way that he could save me from the devil was by using his most powerful weapon, one for which the devil had no defense because it was something that you would never dream of doing. God worked out that there was only one way in which he could rescue me and that was to sacrifice the thing which was most dear to him, not his teddy bear and not his Ferrari (believe me I wouldn't risk a Ferrari for anyone!) but his son, his one and only. So I reckon that if he could do that for little old me, then the least I can do is to try and learn a little more about him, reading his Bible and going to church and try and tell you a little about him in the hope that you could also understand that he died for you as well, and when you get to know a little more about him you'll also realise that he would have died for you on your own as well if you needed him to.
Not a bad bloke eh?
I wanted to leave all the above in to help see where I am coming from but I have to add something as you don't yet have the full story!
On the 13th February 2000 a local evangelist was invited to our church to talk at a guest service with the hope of bringing more people to Christ. Little did I know that he might as well have just come to talk to me! He was speaking on the story of Nicodemus, a well established man of the Jewish community, almost as well established and respected as you could get. But nicodemus wasnt convinced, he knew that his life was not as sorted as he wanted it to be so he went out in the dead of night, not wanting to lose face, to talk to Jesus and ask him what was missing. What Jesus said is well known now - he told Nicodemus that he must be BORN AGAIN.
I like many have known this story for a long time now but the speaker wanted to drive this point home.
Have you been born again? If I were to ask you if you were dead or alive, you couldn't answer "I'm not sure" and it's the same with this. If you have been born again then you are alive in Christ and very simply, if you haven't then you're dead! So have you been born again?
I hadn't - but I have now! That night I took the final step and asked Jesus to make me new in his spirit that I might start afresh with him in the centre of my life. As a result of that I went on to be baptised as a believer true in him on the 16th April 2000.