Going Halfway Around The World
To Reach An American!
By Tim Coley
When we went to work in Slovakia, our hearts were burdened for
people there. We looked forward to the day when someone would give
his heart to the Lord. Soon after arriving, it was obvious that
while the harvest field was great, it would not be easily reaped.
One Slovak told us that the vision we had to help facilitate a
Baptist church planting movement was not realistic. How could we
expect to accomplish such a task when all people have known for
generations is Roman Catholicism?
Bratislava, Slovakia's capital city, has an international Baptist
church which we occasionally visit and where I sometimes preach.
One Sunday morning, I gave an invitation. Though no one came forward,
one man did raise his hand indicating he was unsure of his relationship
with God.
After the service, we sat together, and I opened the Word of God.
What a joy to see his spiritual eyes opened as he commented, "Yes,
I understand that now." In a few moments he invited Christ
into his life. But he wasn't a Slovak. He was an American of Italian
descent, raised in New York City. A number of years earlier he
had come to Slovakia and married a local woman.
A few days later I went to his apartment to begin discipleship
him and met his wife who was already a believer. One evening she
said something that thrilled my heart. "Tim, I have prayed
for a long time that the Lord would send someone who could reach
my husband." Danny has since followed the Lord in baptism
and is growing in his new life in Christ.
Would God send my family and me half way around the world to reach
an American? Absolutely! And I am glad to say that we have seen
Slovaks saved, too. Reaping a harvest of souls in Slovakia is a
slow and difficult process, but we leave it in the hands of the
Lord of the harvest.
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