On February 9, 2010, I will fly from Atlanta to Houston to join the Silver Ring Thing Tour Team. Silver Ring Thing [SRT] is a group I got acquainted with through volunteering with The Hope Center, a Christian crisis pregnancy center in Woodstock. Through participating in one of their events at First Baptist Church of Woodstock I got connected and filled out an intensive application. The story of how becoming part of the team came to be is exciting and brings all glory to God, but a bit too long to share.

I will be serving on a team of 15 members whose goal is to spread the message of Christ-centered abstinence and purity before marriage. Being a part of this group will equip me to share the Gospel more effectively and reach out to younger people, both things I am extremely passionate about.

In the past year, being a part of Sovereign Grace Church, the Lord has truly changed my faith. I’ve transitioned from a desire to do what’s right because of a works-oriented perspective to a desire to love the lost because I am growing in my understanding of the grace I am under. Growing up, I was saved, but was never exposed to such Christ-centeredness. Being a part of SGC has allowed the Lord to open my heart for healing, growth, and the kindling of the fire in my heart for His Truth to be shared.

This past summer I felt the Lord challenging me not to walk this out alone. Instead, He called me to involve my friends, and anyone interested to begin disciplining ourselves to get out and share the Gospel. We began by going every other Sunday to Hobgood Park and Piedmont Park to start striving to show our love to the lost by reaching out in encouragement and openly sharing the Gospel.

One of the best experiences I had was on our last Sunday at Piedmont before it got too cold out. It was the best experience, but certainly the hardest. Gabriel Lytle and I spoke with a group of three adults who we openly shared our faith with. As they listened they began to get angry, and two of them specifically began challenging us with questions about war, slavery, homosexuality, etc. Though it was challenging, the Lord gave me extreme peace in not being able to answer all their questions. The conversation came to a point where the three we were speaking with couldn’t understand why we were okay with not knowing all the answers. They were confused at how we could have faith in something we couldn’t see. They were so frustrated they ended up just walking away. While some might see this as defeat, I felt the Lord’s hand on my shoulder, saying to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The truth that it isn’t my responsibility to save people, yet simply obey the Lord’s command to share openly and unashamedly, has resounded in my heart the past few months. A “successful” story isn’t one where someone says a prayer and gets connected in a church, but simply having the faith to say something to a neighbor, friend, or complete stranger and trusting that by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord is at work, regardless of how the conversation goes.

I could have been completely discouraged by the conversation we had in Piedmont Park, but instead the Lord lifted my Spirit and drew me closer to Him because I have faith in the work He is doing. I am positive that the three Gabriel and I spoke with were shaken by our conversation and had no choice but to ponder our interaction. I have complete faith that the Lord is sovereign over each and every interaction we have with each and every person around us.

Because of the heart change the Lord has been doing in me the past year, evangelism is no longer something I feel like I have to do. Evangelism, instead, is a passion I have because of slowly understanding and realizing what has been done for me. Psalm 30 is my life passage, and I’d like to share with you the last two verses, which have impacted my heart greatly.

Psalm 30:11-12 . . . You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing Your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever!

He truly has changed my mourning into dancing and given me a reason to sing praise. The phrase that affects me most, which sums up how I strive to live my life is this, “And not be silent.” The things that the Lord has done for me through His Son’s death on the cross have given me life, changed my life, and I want to proclaim that not only in how I live my life, but the things I say. I desire to not be silent.