One morning at debrief the entire squad met up for a session with Travis, our mentor. He spoke about being outwardly focused and making the most of every opportunity on the race, and then he gave us an assignment. We were to split up into pairs or small groups and venture out into the streets of Kathmandu to evangelize in whatever way we saw fit.
Before doing that, we prayed over the day ahead and also for guidance regarding where to go and who to talk to. Although I received no clear vision, a thought came to mind: a busy street corner I had visited before. There were various stores and vendor stands catering to tourists, and it had just popped into my head.
The previous night I had briefly discussed something with my squadmate Kelsey: we wanted to play worship music in public somewhere. Now this seemed as good a time as any, and as soon as we were all done praying I approached her. All it took was an exchanged look and a “Let’s go” to get started. We recruited Robbie to come with us since this was an area of interest for him, and once again prayed together before heading out.
Armed with three guitars and my harmonica, we set out for the street corner. Upon our arrival, we found a storefront we could play in front of, and Kelsey asked the owner he was okay with us playing worship music for a little while. He agreed.
We decided to start our set with a classic and began to play “How He Loves.” All three of us played and sang at the beginning, then I jumped in with the harmonica. A crowd began to form as the locals and tourists passing by stopped and stared. People were taking pictures and hanging around to watch and listen. The store owner, whose name was Sam, came back out and asked Kelsey a few questions – he wanted to know what we were singing about and why we were here in Kathmandu.
Kelsey stopped playing and I took over. She answered Sam’s questions and shared the gospel with him. Sam is a Buddhist didn’t entirely understand the idea of there only being one God, but he was very interested in hearing more about Jesus. Eventually he went back into the store and Kelsey resumed playing. Seeing the people who were watching and coming up to ask Robbie questions, I had another idea and it was a bold one. I leaned over to Kelsey and said “Keep playing – I’m going to do something weird.”
As she kept playing, I opened her backpack while she was still wearing it and took out her bible. Still not sure what I had gotten myself into, I jumped up onto the curb and opened the bible to Romans 8. With every ounce of passion and volume I had, I began to preach from the chapter. I started with just reading the scripture verbatim, but then I took a leap of faith and began to interweave the gospel into what I was reading.
I have always looked down on street-corner preachers, and suddenly I had become one. But I can hope I was doing it differently – I wasn’t selling fire insurance, I wasn’t shouting shame and judgment, and I wasn’t holding a sign saying who will or won’t enter the kingdom of heaven. There is a time and a place for the hard conversations, but I’ve found that they tend to repel people when presented by a perfect stranger in the middle of a city street. All I wanted these people to hear about was Jesus.
People listened. People asked questions. And I pray that they keep asking questions. At some point after I put the bible and went back to playing, Sam returned and talked to Kelsey for a little while longer, still genuinely interested. If we had been led to that street corner only to meet Sam, I would consider that day a success. Kelsey was able to follow up with him before leaving Kathmandu, and when my team returns there, I plan to return to his store to talk with him as well.
Kelsey, Robbie, and I were hardly the only ones on our squad with a good story from that day – I was amazed in the encounters people had. All it takes are a few minutes of boldness, even if that means looking a little weird.
