Conversions at Circle Church
All the staff at Circle Church will confess to times of discouragement, and every once in a while, it will center around the lack of conversions.
“We aren’t seeing people coming to Christ the way we should,” someone will complain. This is what we consider to be the ultimate verification of our effectiveness. I can remember leaving a staff meeting in which this topic had been discussed to share what had been happening with another congregation. I took along a slide presentation which had been prepared by one of the photographers in our group.
Click…the screen was filled by the face of an international student from the Dominican Republic. He had been invited to Circle Church by the wife of the chaplain at Cook County Hospital. After hearing about an Inter-Varsity Christmas holiday retreat for international students, he expressed a desire to attend. We collected a love offering on the spot that provided for his way. As he walked out the door the following week, he grasped my hand and quietly explained, “I asked Jesus to come into my heart last weekend.”
Click…a Jewish couple, Ken and Rita, appeared. She had been led to Christ by a woman in the congregation and had begun to explain her conversion to her boyfriend. After an extended period of struggle, he came one morning and stayed for a musical concert in the second hour in which guest artist Dave Boyer sang and gave his testimony.
On Monday evening I received a phone call. “David, I think I have had a peace experience with God.” A peace experience? How better to describe the spiritual encounter which occurs when a man yields his life to belief in Christ.
The next week, they came over to our home for a meal and began relating what had happened. “We think we are having vibrations from God.” Gulp! One of those kinds! Yet as the conversation continued, I realized they were expressing how God was leading them in His own special way, and confessed that I too had received “vibrations” from God.
Click…the face of Mary, a lovely young nurse from Illinois Medical School. After she attended services for several Sundays, I received a call from her. She was under tremendous conviction and had question after question. Would I meet with her that afternoon?
I drove over to the Medical Center and spent a couple of hours in discussion in the cafeteria. Mary excused herself to find a box of Kleenexes and used them frequently. Since she didn’t feel quite ready to make a commitment, and I prefer to leave the wooing to God, I left her still considering. The next morning I received a call from Kay, another nurse at the Center. Mary had appeared at her door at twelve that night expressing an overwhelming desire to become a Christian. In curlers and pajamas, the girls prayed together.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
