Yesterday I recieved the following email from a gal who served with us at Brewfest this last weekend. For those of you that dont know what I am talking about we have the opportunity every year to provide free rides home for the annual Colorado Brewers Festival in Fort Collins. This last weekend an estimated 40,000 people were in Old Town Fort Collins enjoying the “Brewfest”. We had 7 vans giving rides all weekend and were able to give hundreds of people rides home. Durring this time of serving the community we get an opportunity to buid relationships with people and connect with them about their lives. Usually they ask us why we are doing what we are doing so we then have an opportunity to talk to them about the way that Christ has impacted our lives. This year the Campus Crusade Summer Project had over 60 students that helped us put this outreach on. Below is a story from one of the girls who was a little skeptical about the outreach but then watched God use her in an amazing way. I hope you enjoy the story:
I was one of the Campus Crusade students helping out at Brewfest in the vans on Saturday night. I just wanted to share a story with you from the night because your ministry that night was so awesome.
First of all, I was going in thinking… man… drunk people really frustrate me, and I can also remember wondering how people would receive the gospel when intoxicated. I thought, honestly, at first, that it might be kind useless to share the gospel with someone drunk and getting a free van ride home. It was a stupid and prideful thing to think, but that’s honestly when I was thinking! I knew they would appreciate the ride home and make that connection to the church, but I definitely wasn’t expected what happened.
I stood in line and started conversations with people and then would get onto the van with them in hopes of continuing the conversation. I met Katie and Kate, two girls aged about 25 from Denver. Katie was throwing up when I walked up to them. I got her a bottle of water and some towels and then offered to pray for her. She was thankful to have someone taking care of her.
Kate, her friend, however, was a lot more sober. She got deeply involved in conversation with me, and I ended up being able to share the gospel with her. She received it, and at first, it was kind of like, “maybe someday I’ll get there.” She talked about how good she felt after going to a church service and how her Christian aunt had been trying to reach out to her.
I remember I said something like, “how does it make you feel that God put me in your path?” She actually responded that she thought it felt like God was reaching down to her in her lowest point. I talked about asking God for a blank sheet of paper, to start over and live for something better than how she was living now. She was starting to get really serious in her sentences, noting that she really needed this. I got out my Cru Knowing God Personally booklet and asked her which circle she wanted to fit into… a life without Christ in the picture or the circle with the self yielding to Christ, and she very excitedly pointed to the second circle.
I asked if I could pray with her and help her receive the Holy Spirit. When we got out of the van, she grabbed me in a very tight embrace, and tears rolling down her face, she said out loud that she needed Jesus and wanted to be forgiven. Wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I prayed for her for a while, and she stood there for a while and just hugged me tightly. As she walked away, she turned back and said, “thank you for helping me start to change my life.”
How cool is that? Praise God!!!!! I was so excited. She was so honest and it was so real. I gave her my email, and she said she’d be in contact.
What an encouraging story and one that will keep us going back to Brewfest year after year. (Even if it takes me 3 days to recover).
Let Love Live.
