I am so thankful God selected me to share the Good News with the nations on this trip. He truly opened up my heart to all the suffering that is happening in New York City. I truly felt how lost New York is when our team went to the Brooklyn Chinese Baptist Church for the Good News in Chinatown Outreach.
I was out in Sunset Park with one of my teammates when we encountered two men. One was an atheist, and the other was Jewish. We were able to have a good conversation. However, as I was sharing the gospel, it was evident they were not people of peace and had little interest in what I was sharing with them. As my teammate and I left the two men, we prayed God would reveal himself to them and show them his goodness. This conversation left me spiritually drained and discouraged that the gospel was not received well, but we continued to pray anyway.
Once we got back to the church, we told Brenda Sanders from Go Now Missions about the conversation that had just taken place. She explained to us we did what God commanded, and he will use that conversation. She gave us an example that I was helpful—a scale from -10 to +10. If a person is at -10, it means that individual knows absolutely nothing about Christ. Crossing over from 0 to 1 means becoming a Christian, and 1 to 10 is discipleship. She told us the men we encountered may have been a – 9 before we talked to them, and because our one conversation, they may move to an -8. Then they may go home, think about the conversation more, and move to a -6. Then God may send someone else across their path to move them closer to accepting Christ.
The point is that not everyone is a harvester. Not everyone is always going to encounter people of peace. A lot of us are meant to be sowers. We are meant to scatter to seed of God’s word around to others, so that after hearing it, they may grow. This can be difficult sometimes. It was discouraging when these men rejected Jesus and what we stand for. But praise God, we are not the One who is able to save people. All we have to do is share the Good News and leave it to God to work miracles in their hearts. The next time you get rejected and someone turns down your faith, remember God is present and using you and that conversation for a reason. So, keep sowing the gospel and share it boldly, because God wants to use us for his global purpose.
Kayla Irvin, a student at Texas A&M University-Commerce, served with Go Now Missions in New York City.
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