Such Joy
I first met him at the discovery Bible course that I helped lead last year.
Surfing online, he came across this class where he could hear more about what the Bible teaches.
As a co-leader in his discussion group, I was really able to see his journey up close and personal.
I remember that he literally did not say a word for the first three weeks of the course. He just listened to the others give their opinions about the week’s Bible topic. Within the group, we had a staunch atheist and a new age follower who were both very vocal. We were a little concerned because their opinions were a bit strange.
So we prayed for him. A discreet group of believers met to pray for him and all of the participants during our sessions every single week. We prayed that God would open their eyes to the truth and that the power of the gospel would penetrate their hearts.
Slowly, we started to watch the transformation that the Spirit does when He is working. We saw this man start to open up and share what the Lord was starting to teach him. We heard him pray for the very first time, and eventually that discreet man that barely said a word in the beginning shared his testimony in front of the entire church!
He was baptized a couple months ago; not only before the church, but also before his non-Christian family, friends, and four of our past participants who have not yet decided to follow Jesus.
I cannot emphasize enough how much joy it brings me to get to watch someone go from “kinda-sorta interested” in spiritual things to wrestling with what the Bible teaches, to believing and eventually following the Lord in baptism. Such joy!