Today, I participated in an evangelism outreach organized by New York Will Be Saved at Washington Square Park. My partner for the day was Simone, who also moved to New York from Georgia earlier this year.
It’s been a little over two months since I moved to NYC, and I’m realizing more and more that it’s no coincidence I’m here. God is moving, revival is stirring, and the Christians I’ve met here are on fire! God is sending laborers to New York City!
Simone and I got to pray for a couple of people. One highlight was praying for a college student who had just moved to NYC from Dallas to study menswear design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. His prayer request was simple: safety for the community, given everything happening in the city this weekend. We prayed not only for that, but also for his studies and for him to find good friends and communities that would encourage him along the way. He gave us both a warm hug at the end.
I’m grateful for everyone we got to pray with, everyone who heard more about Jesus, the believers we had the opportunity to encourage and who encouraged us in return, and even those who rejected us.
Now that I think about it, God has really grown me in evangelism since I moved to NYC. I would say that approaching strangers in public is not something that comes naturally to me, but I do feel an increasing sense of urgency and a growing conviction of the need to share the Gospel with those who are lost. Jesus reminds us that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37).
Interestingly, I’ve also noticed a change of heart within me. In the past, especially when I was still a newer believer, I remember feeling secondhand embarrassment when I heard the Gospel being preached publicly. I don’t exactly understand why. Perhaps it was because I felt that faith should be a personal matter, something you keep to yourself. But more recently, I’ve realized that I no longer feel as ashamed of the Gospel as I once did. I’ve come to understand more deeply that the Gospel really is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). It is the best news, and it is worth proclaiming.
