How far would you travel to see someone come into a relationship with Jesus Christ? How much is one man’s soul worth?
That was one of the major questions I got to ask myself in China last month. Team Dunamis spent its time in North Central China, a place with very few English speakers. While other teams got to work on English-speaking college students or do earthquake relief down in Southern China, most of our days were spent walking the town and praying for it and for its people. Praying that God would bring in full time workers. Praying against the Spiritual darkness in these places. Praying for God’s Kingdom to be planted in the middle-of-no where China. While I believe fully in the power of prayer and believe fully that our prayers there were laying a foundation for the Kingdom to come, I was sometimes envious that other teams got to do more “visible” ministry. At times I even questioned if it was “strategic” for AIM to send us into the middle of no where, instead of an area where we could have communicated with people.
That’s what makes the story of Mark so intriguing. During the 1st week of ministry, Mark approached a few members of our team. He was the only fluent English speaker we met all month. That day he led that half of the team all around the city, into schools, showed them the best places to eat, etc. They left Mark, but made plans for the rest of the team to join up with him for dinner later that night.
After a meal of Chow Mien, mediocre tea, and small talk, Mark began to open up about his time in college. He talked of occasionally staying up late at night and drinking by himself, because he was so lonely. He talked of thinking there was more to life than just working. He asked us what we thought, what guided our lives. We got to share with him about Jesus Christ. A few years earlier a woman had shared a little about Jesus with him, and he had been listening to a Christian radio program that was broadcasted from somewhere outside of China. So when we started talking about having a relationship with Jesus a little foundation was in place. He hung on our every word, and when we were done sharing about our experience with the Creator he said that he wanted Jesus in his life as his Savior and friend. He prayed to receive Christ in the middle of the restaurant (in China, restaurants often have private dining areas).
We invited Mark back to our hotel to give him a Bible and do a little discipleship. We had to explain what the New Testiment was, what a bible verse is, what the Gospels are and how they are different from the letters. The craziest part was when we talked about how to pray, how it is just a conversation with God. We bowed our heads to pray and I noticed he was mimicking how I was holding my hands, but then Mark became very confused when he realized each one of us was holding our hands in a different way. We still keep in contact with Mark via email and he tells us how he feels the Father alive in his heart and how his relationship is growing every day. Our prayer for him is that he will find a Church in a place where the Church has to be hidden, so that he can grow with other believers.
So that brings be back to the question I asked in the begining: How far would you go to see one man come to know Jesus Christ? How much would you spend for just one person?
Maybe a better question to ask is: How much does it cost to throw a party in Heaven? Luke 15:1-7
