Meet PJ, a senior at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute.

8/2020 PJ

Meet PJ, a senior at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute. I happened upon him at the park, asking for his beliefs about life after death, and he told me of the hope he has in Jesus for salvation and his desire to share that hope and the good news of the Gospel as a pastor one day, as well as various ministries he participates in here and now. We had a heartfelt conversation and prayed one for another, even though we had been strangers to each other only minutes earlier.

I’m so thankful for the Moody Bible Institute and all the students like PJ who are continuing or beginning their school year of ministry training there. Chicago needs you as Christian students at this turbulent time in our history, bringing the hope of the Gospel to a city that in my experience is becoming more and more secular every year. We need the fresh energy you bring, and the vision you have for ministry. I want to encourage you, however, to get out of the “Moody Bubble” and out onto the streets, engaging in conversations with the regular people who are all around you. This is what I was doing when I walked up to PJ. He was easy to talk to and open about his beliefs, and we might just write that off as due to his already being a Christian, but in my experience most people are very willing to engage in conversations about their faith or their doubts, as long as they have a little time and we ask good questions and show that we are willing to listen and respond to them. I’ve been posting videos of my gospel outreach conversations on my YouTube channel, hoping to show how we as Christians might engage with the world around us, often just in the course of my daily activities such as a walk in the park or a trip to the grocery store. I think of these conversations as a sort of Socratic dialogue, introduced by Socrates but perfected by Jesus. I believe conversations like this can be a blessing to the people we talk to, and I know for sure they are a blessing for ourselves. I can’t begin to describe how much deeper your worship, your prayer life, and your studies there at Moody will be if done in the context of conversations like these with everyday people who have real doubts, concerns, and questions that we must contend with. You will be challenged and grow like never before, and your faith will move from the theoretical to the practical, from idealistic to realistic. Feel free to check out any of the dozens of videos on my channel for ideas on what that might look like, and I would love to hear more about ways you might adapt this sort of thing to your own gifts and talents. God bless your new year at Moody and thanks, PJ, for an encouraging conversation!

See on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/p8T6K6h9Mv8