USS Repentance Mayden Voyage...Amazing and Frustrating

USS Repentance on a college campus

Me sitting with Stephen. Please lift him up in prayer.

In April, I finally found the time to take the USS Repentance out for her mayden voyage at the local college. I have to admit, Iv'e never felt more weird, akward, and judged than when I came dragging a massive boat into the middle of a college campus. The look started immediately. I prayed. Lord, for your glory use this ridiculous boat to bring people to you. Within 5 minutes, after a nudging from my co worker, a young 21 year old guy named Stephen approached me. "Hey man, mind if I shared with you a story of my life using this boat as a metaphor.?" I asked. With a chuckle, he responded, "Sure".  He sat in the boat, and for the next hour, I shared with him my story, and the gospel. He asked questions, we had great conversation and I could tell God was working. And then, to my amazement, Stephen prayed to receive Christ as His Lord and Savior. This was the first conversation I had in the boat. I was in shock and blown away by the faithfulness of the Lord.  There is more though. If I could say how a "textbook" salvation should be, it would have been this one. All the stars alined, Stephen seemed to be very serious about it, understood it, etc. Signs of a true repentant heart were there. He even texted me the very next day, asked for my churches address, and said he would be there on Sunday. He took a Bible from me, and we had arranged to begin to meet every Monday to study it together. He was also interested in plugging into a college ministry group on campus. I was overjoyed.......that is until Sunday came and Stephen never showed up. I have not heard from him since that day. I have called, texted, etc... This to me is one of the most frustrating things about evangelism. You simply never know the fruits of it, even thought at first the fruits appear like they are real. Was Stephen serious? I think and hope so...it sure seemed so. Do I feel like I may have been "given the slip" by a nice guy who just was being nice? Maybe. Am I bothered that what appeared to have been a real salvation, may not of been? Absolutely. Do I ask myself a million questions about this conversation, how it went, why he seemed so genuine, only to ignore me after? You better believe it. Does it cause me to ponder the working of God in evangelism, how He works, what does true salvation look like? Yes. Has thus type of "thing" happened to me before? Countless. Am I able to figure it all out this side of eternity? Nope. Will this deter me from doing evangelism. Never. Why? Because I measure my effectiveness in evangelism through my obedience, not the fruits of my obedience. Will I take the USS Repentance out again. Absolutely. Have I seen people who did not seem genuine at all in praying to receive Christ end up being bold followers of Jesus? Yep. I say this all to highlight that God works in ways we cannot understand. I truly hope Stephen came to know Jesus. Fact is, to this day Im not sure why he never responded. He could have lost his phone, he could have had some big life issue come up?  He could of even died. I have no idea, I have not seen him. I pray wherever he is, he is following Jesus, and I will continue to proclaim the name of Christ to the lost, even if I question it in its results and applications all the time.  So if you've ever experienced the same, I want to encourage you. Stay true to the proclamation of the gospel. Let the Spirit do His work in the lives of all you speak with, trusting Him and how He is working.