Opening Doors, Transforming Lives

I continue to be amazed by how the Lord chooses to do ministry! For anyone who knows me, you know that I like to have things planned out far in advance, well, tonight, God had other plans! I was at my church's 110th anniversary service when I get an email from a Harris-Stowe student I had been connecting with telling me to please not forget about the 6:45pm event on campus tonight. Mind you, it is a little after 5pm when I get this message. I had vaguely remembered talking with her about the event three weeks ago, but hadn't heard anything since, so I hadn't planned on going to campus. In fact, I hadn't driven my car to church, so I didn't even have a way to get there or back.

I felt like the Lord was encouraging me to go anyway, so I quickly made arrangements to be dropped off at Harris-Stowe (still not being sure of how I would get back home). When I get there, I find out that the program is a "Gospel Explosion" to kick off their homecoming week, and they wanted me to do spoken word poetry. Turns out that several of the program participants had cancelled at the last minute, so the student organizing the event asked if I would be willing to do more than one piece, and he told me to feel free to do anything else the Lord put on my heart.

Well, at the end of the program, a (very) brief altar call was made, and when no one had responded after 5-10 seconds, the MC dismissed the audience. People were starting to leave the theatre, and it was then that I felt the Lord was calling me to take a risk and do another altar call. He had me do three invitations: 1 for those who had never had a relationship with Christ; 1 for those who for some reason or another had turned away from the Lord and wanted to restore that relationship; and finally, for those who simply wanted prayer. Well, before I could finish, there were already about 15 students who had come forward! Mind you, there were only about 35 people in attendance at the event to begin with.

I ended up doing a corporate prayer, and then inviting those who wanted individual prayer to stay and see me. It was quite clear that the Spirit was moving, as several of the students were in tears and couldn't even fully articulate what they wanted prayer for. I prayed what I felt the Lord was putting on my heart for them, and then we went into a time of spontaneous worship. The word that the Lord kept dropping in my spirit was "release". He desired for people to experience the liberty that comes from dwelling in His presence. For the next 25 minutes or so, students were worshipping, crying, and praying with one another!

One of the Harris-Stowe staff who works in the Office of Student Activities came up to me afterward, gave me a hug, and said this was exactly what they needed!

I praise God for the ways He continues to open doors for ministry, and how He's transforming lives in the process (including my own)! I look forward to following up with these students (and staff) over the next several days, and will be sure to keep you posted on what God is up to!

p.s. Even though I didn't have my car, the Lord provided a way for me to get back home! :)