If you’re like me, you don’t particularly love change. But 2020 has been full of changes. We are now looking at a Thanksgiving and Christmas season unlike any we have ever experienced. No matter where you stand on how things should be handled, this holiday season will be different. For me, it means I won’t be spending hours on end in coffee shops during my weeks of vacation. It also means I won’t be planning or attending near as many Christmas parties.

But as our disappointments and frustrations seem to pile up, let’s not forget what hasn’t changed. A couple weeks ago, I was reminded of a phrase Dr. Bob III would repeat in BJU chapel all the time: “The most sobering reality in the world today, is that people are dying and going to hell today.”

Yes, 2020 has changed our lives significantly in many areas, but the most sobering reality of 2019 remains the most sobering reality of 2020. There are people around us that have not accepted the wonderful news of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. They are living without hope in one of the worst years most of us can remember. And, some of those will die without that hope, not even living to see 2021. That is a sobering reality.

It’s easy to get into a spirit of complaining about the regulations while you are waiting 6 feet away from someone in line at a grocery store. Guilty as charged. However, why not take that opportunity to share some of the hope that lies within you? Why not turn the unfortunate circumstances of 2020 into a joyful gospel opportunity? If the most sobering reality is that people are dying and going to hell today, then the most precious news is that Jesus made it possible for us to escape that eternal death by dying to self and following Him.

Instead of dwelling on all the things that have changed this year, let’s make a list of things that haven’t changed! I shared one, but there are hundreds of amazing things that remain the same. Just a few that come to mind are things like our union with Christ, our eternal security, and the ability to stay in touch even when we can’t travel or gather! Use the comment section below to list some ideas. Then, find someone who needs some hope in their life and share those with them.

A few weeks ago, I realized I had slipped into a get-through-the-day mentality. But hearing the words of Dr. Bob reminded me that I can’t be content to just make it. I have been left here on earth for a purpose—a mission. That mission is to make disciples because people are slipping into a Christ-less eternity. Sticking my head in the sand and just trying to survive the pandemic isn’t being an ambassador for Christ.
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So, will you join me? Will you decide it’s time to do more than just make it through the rest of 2020? We have an open door to connect with people and turn the conversation to eternally weighty things. I know, it’s not exactly an ideal time to talk to strangers, knock on doors, gather a crowd of people together, but can you think of a more ideal time than right now that people are looking for hope? So, let’s think creatively. Let’s build relationships. Let’s use the conversations waiting in line for Christ. After all, He gave everything for us, and now, he commissions us to bring that news to everyone we can. That’s something to give thanks for next Thursday!

This month, we are featuring some of BJU's CGO-affiliated organizations. Missions Advance, which was previously known as Mission Prayer Band, is a student organization that exists to cultivate in the student body a passion for God’s glory resulting in greater participation in world missions through learning, praying, and mobilizing.
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Bob Jones University has a long history of involvement with Christian missions. For ninety-three years it has been giving future missionaries and their supporters a vision of the needs of the world—and then sending them out to serve.
 
As I write, I have before me two pieces of evidence from the early days of Bob Jones College. One is a copy of Robert Moffat’s Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa, which was given to the college library by missions professor Grace W. Haight (1863-1955), herself a former missionary. On the title page Dr. Haight has written her name and the words, “A very valuable book.”
 
The other is an autographed copy of Japan Needs Jesus, a record of a 1937 missionary tour by Clifford Lewis (1909-85). A member of the first BJC class, the author was a secretary of the Young People’s Fellowship Clubs, an ancestor organization of today’s GFA Missions.
 
I found the missions focus very much alive when I came to BJU many years later. The annual Missions Emphasis Week (since retitled Global Opportunities Week) was a highlight of every fall. In addition, with local extension ministries and mission teams, students and staff were regularly mobilized for missionary work in Greenville and around the world; I twice served in Europe with BJU’s Musical Mission Team.
 
Most memorable and most valuable in influencing my own appreciation of missions was the student organization founded in the late 1930s and known for most of its existence as Mission Prayer Band (called Missions Advance since 2011). My sister, who was a year ahead of me in university, invited me to Mission Prayer Band when I was a new student, and I never voluntarily missed a meeting.
 
We used to meet in the large science lecture room for a half hour just after supper four days every week. There were sometimes missionary or student speakers, but mostly we read missionary letters and spent the majority of our time praying for the needs missionaries wrote about.
 
Neither prayer nor missions was new to me. My parents, who themselves had moved halfway across a continent to help my missionary uncle and aunt, raised their children on missionary biographies. However, reading those letters and praying with my fellow students showed me how I can be an active participant in missions work. Missions is my own responsibility.
 
Mission Prayer Band taught me about the world. I learned about men and women who were living without hope—about the forces that keep them from the truth and about the willing servants who have gone to help them.
 
Mission Prayer Band taught me about the church. I saw the Lord’s people working together in the gospel. I heard how His kingdom was growing in many lands. I found encouragement in praying with other believers. To me, Mission Prayer Band was the heart of my university as prayer is the life of a local church.
 
Mission Prayer Band taught me about God. We took our inspiration from Jesus’ words: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). This command comes from the One who was in the very act of sending out His messengers. Almost in the same breath, He tells us to pray, and he answers the prayers. He has a plan, and He is using His people to accomplish it.
 
As we met in Mission Prayer Band, we were obeying our Lord’s orders. More than that, we were participating with Him in His mission. Mission Prayer Band was both training and active service for the Lord.
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Brendon Johnson, administrative assistant in the School of Religion at Bob Jones University since 2018, began attending Mission Prayer Band in 2009 and was the secretary of Missions Advance from 2011 to 2013

This summer hasn’t been the easiest summer for our outreach efforts at my church in Detroit. We were in the middle of trying a new evangelistic Bible study when everything started getting cancelled in March. Pastors and professors wrote the studies. Ladies at the church volunteered to bring food. Church members invited lost friends. A surprising amount of new faces showed up. Then, they couldn’t come back because our church stopped gathering together.

After that, we thought we could engage the community by bringing sanitation kits to each house in our neighborhood. That way we could make contact with the lost in our community, demonstrate love for neighbor, and seek opportunities to share the gospel. We calculated the cost, drafted a proposal, found the supplies, started writing a tract to include in each kit. Then we got hit with a stay-at-home order.

Eventually, for our Sunday morning service, our church started meeting in our parking lot and inside with limited, social-distanced seating. But the question remained—how could we be well-known in our community as a place that takes God and His Word seriously and is marked by Christ-like love while communicating the gospel to the lost correctly, clearly, and consistently?

In May, our outreach pastor wrote some articles entitled “Pandemic Evangelism” to try to equip others during “these unprecedented times.” Some people in our church made their best efforts to call lost friends to check in on how they were doing. Some found that people were more willing to talk because of being shaken up by everything going on. Others found that some of their friends had dropped off the face of the earth. Last month, we tried door-to-door evangelism with our Spread the Word interns. Some of them were met with coronavirus-related resistance, but, for the most part, it was profitable.

This month, we were supposed to have Fall Fest, one of our biggest church-wide outreaches of the year. Last year, hundreds of people came. We had a straw maze, corn pit, hayride, cider, and donuts. Many church members connected with people from the community. Many lost people heard the gospel or were invited to Christianity Explored. This year--cancelled.

But despite the discouragement of things getting cancelled, the annoyance of wearing a mask, and the uncertainty of whether someone will act like a normal pre-2020 human being or spray you with hand sanitizer and run away accusing you of not caring about people’s health when you approach them, there really have been good opportunities for evangelism this year.

My favorite is one-to-one Bible reading. This is how I’ve seen redemptive relationships most regularly built. Before Covid, I met with individuals throughout the week to read the Bible together at restaurants, coffeeshops, or my house. After Covid, I meet with people outside, at parks, or on Zoom. The location may change, but coronavirus can’t stop this outreach.

It’s pretty simple but very effective (and fun). When I meet a lost person, I ask them if they have ever read the Bible? If they say no, I ask how they come up with informed opinions about God, life, or truth without reading the Bible, which is the #1 bestseller in the world that claims to be written by God, and invite them to read it with me. If they say they’ve read parts of the Bible, I ask how they come up with informed opinions about God, life, or truth without reading the whole Bible and invite them to read it with me. If they say they have read the whole Bible, I say, “We should read the Bible together then! I love reading the Bible with people! You will have insights that help me understand things I didn’t understand, and I will have insights that help you understand things you didn’t understand.”

One example began the beginning of February. A man named Nick visited Inter-City. I introduced myself, got his phone number, and invited him to study the Bible with me. Three weeks later, he accepted the invitation, and we met at a library. He had recently started reading the Bible himself for the first time, so we read the next chapter he was going to read together. It was 2 Kings 20. Soon, I recommended we read Mark. We would read a passage, ask each other questions, and I’d try to explain concepts like Jesus coming for those who know they are sick, not those who think they are healthy. Over the next 8 weeks, we read through a portion of Mark each week. After reading Mark, we went through 1 John. We are reading Ephesians now. It has been amazing to see Nick’s eyes open as God gave him understanding. Nick went from believing that he wasn’t a bad sinner and not knowing clearly who Jesus was, to saying he wants to follow Jesus because obviously he is the only one who can save!
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Coronavirus can’t stop this. God’s Word will powerfully accomplish his purpose whether it’s heard in a church auditorium or over a Zoom call. That’s why regular exposure to the Bible is so important for evangelism. Who could you invite to read the Bible with you? If this kind of redemptive relationship building seems too difficult for you, check out David Helm’s book One-to-One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide for Every Christian, or try reading the Bible with a believing friend first and commit to praying for each other when you try reading the Bible with a lost person. You could also use a booklet that helps you walk through texts of Scripture like Christianity Explored (which now has a free online version for those who can’t meet in person), Uncovering the Life of Jesus by Rebecca Manley Pippert, The God Who Saves by Mark Gilbert, or You, Me, and the Bible by Tony Payne. Anyone can do this. And it can be done any time, even in a pandemic.