9/9/26

Andres, who is pictured above, is a student at CSUF that I've had the privilage to evangelize and disciple this past year. Andres grew up in Guatemala, but, when his family moved to the US about seven years ago, he lost any faith he might've previously had and took an agnostic and merely moralistic view of reality. Living a 'good and flourishing' life was the primary obective, and for that reason Andres had a special affection for the book of Proverbs. He truly respected Christianity, but only found it compelling inasmuch as it provided what seemed to be reasonable and practical wisdom for day to day life. I learned this, and so much more, in the first conversation I ever had with Andres which was actually recorded a year ago! Feel free to check out that conversation below!

What began with merely a lot of questions from me to Andres about what he believes and why he believes it, developed into his curiosity of my own beliefs and his eventual complete conversion to following Christ as his Teacher and God. I didn't do any magic dance or say anything special - if you don't believe me, watch the video below and you'll quickly find out that there was nothing special about what I said or asked him. After our initial conversation, Andres and I would talk on campus about what it means to accept the gospel of the kingdom as well as enjoy discussing various passages of scripture together - even before he converted.

I had known that Andres had become a disciple, but it wasn't until recently that he told me it was his conversations with me that led him to make that descision. I knew that I'd contributed to his conversion, but it suprised me how significant of an impact my seemingly small conversations had on the rest of his life, now and forever. It makes me reflect and wonder how many simple opportunities we have all around us to simply sow, simply water, and simply wait? Something that is even cooler about Andres's story is that he is already sharing with and evangelising those around him in his everday life! If you watch the video below, that is humerously one of the things largely holding him from following Jesus - he didn't want to evangelize. Well, it's a wonder what simple steps can do because just the other day Andres and I were at a coffee shop talking and praying when a young man walked up to us inquiring about our conversation. Andres eagerly jumped in and shared excellently his testimony of how accepting the gospel has changed and affected his life now and forever. Wild! This is the guy who would never do this! And he's on fire to do it! I don't even have to push him on it, he's eager to share!

In that coffee meeting, Andres was telling me about *Yusuf, another CSUF student we've conversed with, and how he's been talking with him about why he isn't a Christian. Andres was at the whiteboard and struck up a conversation with *Yusuf that led to a conversation about how Andres used to believe many of the things *Yusuf currently believes and how conversations with me helped him understand that Christianity is true. Andres is showing increadible growth and maturation, and the striking thing is that one year ago he openly identified as not believing in Christianity and refused to evangelize! I love how perceptive Andres was when he described his conversion to me in a way similar to this, "When the seed of the gospel gets sown, God is the One who is faithful in seeing it grow into maturity." How true that is!!! You can see for yourself that the conversation I had with Andres was nothing to hang on the wall as perfection, but God is faithful to not let His Word fall to the ground without accomplishing it's purpose. 

If God will use an unimpressive conversation between an uneducated twenty year old and a nonbeliever, to not only produce a new convert but a new disciple who is also evangelizing, what amazing things could he do with you in your day-to-day conversations? This shouldn't make us feel anxious about our lack of obedience or lack of courage regarding the Great Commission, but it should instead give us great hope and excitement knowing that every conversation we have has the potential to radically change the direction of someone's life forever without us even realizing it! Andres is already seeking to give away what he's recieved. What do we have that we can give away? It might change the world. The journey of all nations begins with your neighbor.