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Emilie, Matt and Kelly came home from DC/LA last summer fired up to tell their friends about God's good news.

It's been about six months since the DC/LA Youth Evangelism SuperConferences, held last summer in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.

Thirty thousand students attended the big events, where they were encouraged to live every day for Christ—including telling others about God. Here are three students who are doing just that.

"I'm taking a stand"

One thing we learned at DC/LA is that the best way we can share our faith is to tell our "rescue story"—how Jesus rescued us from sin and changed our lives. And I've got quite a rescue story.

A couple of years ago, my life was in the pits. My dad had lost his job, and we were on a tightrope trying to make ends meet. I was into some really bad music, music that was influencing my thoughts in a negative way. I was hanging out with the wrong people, doing some things I shouldn't have done.

I felt like I didn't have any friends, I was always lonely, I was struggling with bulimia, and I was actually planning on committing suicide. I was a Christian at the time, but I had really fallen away from God. My life was a mess.

Then somebody invited me to Niagara '96, which is sorta like DC/LA, but on a smaller scale.

I had been to Niagara '95, so I knew some cool things could happen, and that it might bring me closer to God—and out of the mess I was in.

And that's just what happened. I heard some great messages and I re-dedicated my life to Jesus. I quit listening to bad music. I started hanging out with the right people and stopped doing things that were displeasing to God. I started making new friends, and I started eating right. I was beginning to get back on track. And by the time I went to DC last summer, I was really on fire for God.

It was great to be in DC with 20,000 other kids. It made me realize I'm not the only one willing to take a stand for Christ. And it made me want to make a difference in my school.

So another girl and I started a Bible club at school. Only a few people showed up at first, and a lot of people—students and faculty—gave us grief about it in the beginning. I carried my Bible to school, and people ridiculed me about it. I came home crying sometimes. It took me a while to get over that. But I'm in love with Jesus, and I don't care what others think.

Eventually, more people started coming to the Bible club, and it's still growing.

I've also been able to share my faith at church events. We had a dance at our church; we called it the Solid Rock Cafe. We played all Christian music, and showed Christian videos. There were 54 kids there, and about half of them weren't Christians. One of them was a 14-year-old guy named Dustin, who was really into Marilyn Manson.

One day, Dustin wore a White Zombie T-shirt to school, a shirt that said, "Satan Loves You."

But at that dance, Dustin showed a real interest in learning more about Christ. My older brother, Matthew, talked to him for a half hour. Dustin came within centimeters of accepting Christ that night.

A few days later, Dustin came to our Bible club at school. I read from First John about walking in the light, about how we're not supposed to love the world. We had a cool, deep discussion. Then I asked if everybody there believed they would go to heaven if they died that day. Three people—Dustin and two girls—said no. I prayed with all three of them, and all three of them prayed to become Christians!

It was incredible.

So, to me, "witnessing" just means clearly communicating what Jesus has done in my life and what he can do in other people's lives, to show them that hope—the hope that can give them their own "rescue story" some day.

Emilie Pryor
Salamanca H.S.
Salamanca, NY

"We're just sharing the truth"

A fter I got home from L.A., I decided to practice some of the things I'd learned about sharing my faith. I headed to our local mall with a couple of friends. There's a New Age store there where they sell some satanic stuff. We felt God leading us to talk to the employees about Christ.

There was a lady working at the counter. We asked her if she knew if she was going to heaven, but she didn't really want to talk with us; she said she was on the clock. Another employee walked in and said we shouldn't be asking those kinds of questions in there.

I was discouraged, because I really wanted to witness to somebody there. I just wanted to go in there and tell 'em about Jesus.

Another time, we witnessed to a man shopping at the mall. He talked to us for a few minutes. He said he went to church 20 or 30 years ago, but that things had happened in his life to make him believe God didn't exist. He said he felt like heaven or hell is simply what we make out of this life, and that he had decided to make his life heaven. We told him about Christ and what we believe. He said, "That's great. You can believe what you believe, but I don't really believe that."

Those incidents were kind of disappointing, but they weren't a waste of time. Maybe it didn't seem profitable for the people we talked to, but for us, it just felt good sharing the gospel. We're giving people a chance to know about God's love. We're telling them the truth. And that's all we can do.

The same thing is true with some of my friends. One of my friends doesn't even want to hear about Jesus. She feels like we're trying to convert her, and she doesn't like that. Still, I tell her God cares about her, God loves her. And I tell her I'll be there for her if she needs me. I just try to be a good friend to her, and I'll let God take care of the rest.

Matt Baty
San Pasqual High School
Escondido, California

Before D.C., I really didn't know how to tell friends about Christ. I had a very hard time getting people to see they need God. But D.C. gave me a new boldness, and I'm not afraid anymore.

Now I believe God wants me to take the lead in reaching non-believers at my high school, starting with a Christian group at school called "Colts for Christ." (Our school mascot is a colt.)

Last year, "Colts for Christ" had turned into kind of a "holy huddle," just a bunch of Christians getting together and studying and praying before school on Wednesday mornings. But there was no outreach.

After DC/LA, I felt God leading me to start a prayer time and Bible study every morning before school. So we started doing that, and amazing things happened. People just started coming out of the woodwork to pray with us.

One morning at "Colts for Christ," I sensed God telling me, "Look up. What do you see?" I saw a bunch of students on fire for God. And it was like God said, "You guys are going to lead this school to me."

We used to disappear into some back room for our meetings, but not any more. We decided to go where the students are. So now we're meeting in an area where students usually sneak out to smoke cigarettes or pot. We've decided, if we're there, they might wonder what we're up to. We encourage them to come join us any time—to talk about life, to ask questions about God, whatever.

And on Wednesdays after school, we started something called "Student Oasis," a program with icebreakers and fun stuff. It's kind of a fellowship for anybody and everybody. At our first three meetings, we worked on training students to lead people to Christ. Now we bring our non-Christian friends to the meetings. We figure we can get them there after school easier than we can make them get out of bed earlier in the morning!

Kelly Fisher
Cape Fear High School
Stedman, North Carolina

Want to Share Your Faith? Try This!

When sharing your faith, here are four important points to cover:

1. God cares about you. He not only loves you; he likes you. He thinks you're valuable and important. He wants to be your friend. (See Matthew 9:36, John 3:16, John 15:13, 1 John 3:16).

2. There's a problem between you and God. All of us have a natural-born tendency to do wrong, to sin. And no matter how much we try to do good, no matter how much good we do, that tendency to sin remains constant. God is so good, he won't have anything to do with sin, leaving a huge gap between us and God. So we're forever separated from God, even after death. (See Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:10-12, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-3.)

3. God offers a solution. Here's the good news: God came to Earth, in the form of a human named Jesus, to bridge the gap between us and God. Unlike us, Jesus was perfect; he had no sin in him. When Jesus was crucified, he took on the sins of all people for all time, paying the penalty for everyone's sins. That's what it means when people say, "Jesus died for my sins." He took our place, and paid the cost we should have paid. But Jesus wasn't dead for long: He came back to life. And because Jesus rose again, showing God's power over death, we can live with God for all eternity in heaven. (See John 1:29, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:6-8, John 14:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17.)

4. We must accept God's solution. God doesn't force this solution on us; we must choose to accept or reject it. We can't be good enough to "earn" God's favor or "win a ticket to heaven." We can only take God's solution as a free gift from him, and we do that simply by asking God to give us this gift. For instance, "God, I know I'm a sinner. I'm sorry. Please forgive me, and help me to do what's right. Thank you for sending Jesus to bridge the gap between me and you. I believe he died for me, and I want to be your child." The exact words don't matter. What matters is that you mean it and believe it. If you do, God will forgive your sins and you'll be his child forever! (See Ezekiel 36:26-27, John 1:12, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:4-9, 1 John 1:9.)

Copyright © 1998 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mail clmag@CampusLife.net January/February 1998. Page 46

Read more from 'Faith & Values'

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