KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii—This past spring, God acquainted me with “rise-and-go” evangelism. It is an impromptu, Spirit-led strategy God used to facilitate some of the most noteworthy conversion stories in the Scriptures. Since “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,”1 I should not have been surprised that God would have me branch out in this manner. Yet I found myself wrestling with unbelief.
In March, I felt that God was telling me to “rise-and-go” to Ali’i Drive here at 5 a.m. to pray for someone’s healing. It wasn’t the early wake-up call that bothered me. It was that Ali’i Drive is a bit like a miniature Bourbon Street — the famous road in my hometown of New Orleans (arguably the party capital of the U.S.). The ministry campus where I live is just off of Ali’i. Sometimes the smell of lighted cigarettes and the whiff of marijuana are detectable from there. So, suffice it to say, I thought if I approached someone during the predawn hours, anyone who I would find would be looking for trouble (or at least assume that I was).
With these “reasonable” objections in mind, I ignored this inkling for 10 days. Finally, on about the 10th day at 5 a.m., I was walking toward Starbucks where I planned to have some early-morning fellowship time with God. On the way there I finally decided “What do I have to lose by going to see if someone needs prayer?” So, I turned from my route on Kuakini Highway, cut through a parking lot and went down to Ali’i in search of someone needing prayer. As soon as I got there, I noticed a man with a severe limp (the result, he told me, of a boat accident that also injured his back). I prayed for him which, he said, significantly alleviated his back pain. I shared the Gospel with him. The whole thing took five minutes, and then I was off to my fellowship time with God as usual. Mission accomplished.
A second instance of my being led into “rise-and-go” evangelism came only weeks later. I was lying in bed, again about 5 a.m., trying to fall back asleep. I felt the nudge from God to go to the pier that overlooks the Pacific Ocean mere yards away from my campus home. I didn’t know why I was being asked to go there; I just felt that I should go. After wrestling with this thought for 10 minutes I realized that this wrestling match was keeping me awake anyway, so I might as well go. At least this time it only took me 10 minutes to respond instead of 10 days.
Once at the pier, I met a fisherman-wanderer named Mike. He’s my age and grew up in an atheistic household in California. I shared the Gospel with him and gave him a Bible. We have since become friendly acquaintances. Sometimes when I bump into Mike around town, he respectfully asks “Are you doing your thing tonight?” By that he means “Are you telling people about Jesus?” It is only recently that I’ve learned that God is using me to contribute to work He’s already been doing in Mike’s life. About a year before meeting me, he had read “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel, a journalist who was also educated at Yale Law School. The book chronicles the evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. Since receiving the Bible I’d given him, he’d read Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus. He is a full-blown “seeker,” which I had not perceived until our most recent meeting in July. He seemed politely indifferent to the Gospel before this time.
The Acts of the Apostles chronicles the fact that one of Christ’s most significant commands to his early disciples was simply to “rise-and-go.” It was an evangelistic directive that might have seemed counterintuitive to the one receiving the task. Recall Peter was told by the Holy Spirit to “rise-and-go” share the Gospel with Cornelius’ household — which was scandalous at the time for reaching across the Jewish-Gentile social divide.2 A disciple named Ananias faced perhaps an even more confusing and frightening order: “rise-and-go” and officiate the conversion of Saul, a firebrand Pharisee who had persecuted the Church before meeting the Lord himself.3 Also Philip was told to “rise-and-go” from what was a spiritual revival in Samaria over to a deserted place. After he obeyed, he learned the reason: An Ethiopian who was found studying the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, but couldn’t understand their messianic prophesies without assistance.4 These missions were each given out of the blue.
I hope that God continues to give me “rise-and-go” opportunities to evangelize and that I become spiritually sensitive enough to recognize God’s promptings immediately. I don’t want to miss any God-given opportunities to help bring people into His Kingdom.
1. Hebrews 13:8
2. Acts 10
3. Acts 9:1-19
4. Acts 8:26-40
Raymond Billy is a discipleship mentor for Youth With A Mission.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to Raymond Billy, CLICK HERE.
