I remember back in 2003 my assistant coming into my office and asking me if I would be available for an interview for our local newspaper.
A few days later a guy named Nick was sitting in my office and asking me about the way we did church at NewSpring. He told me he had been assigned to study churches across the country and find out why some were growing and why some seemed to stand still.
The interview went quite well…and when he was finished I was about to walk him to the door until the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “Ask him about me?”
SO…I did! I said, “Hey Nick, you’ve been asking me questions for about an hour or so…do you mind if I ask you one question before you go?”
“Not at all,” he replied.
“Where do you stand in your relationship with Jesus?”
SILENCE
Finally he mentioned something about believing that Jesus was a good guy and great teacher, but didn’t know if he really believed the whole “Savior” concept.
After we talked about that for awhile I remember him saying, “Perry, I don’t have a relationship with Jesus. BUT…your church is the first church I’ve ever been in that made me question why I don’t have a relationship with Him. And so when I am done with my research on this church stuff I will be coming back to NewSpring to attend your worship services.”
And he did…week after week he was there…and then he went to lunch with a guy on our staff, who then led him to Christ!!!
And he’s been around ever since…volunteering, serving…doing all that he can to make the name of Jesus famous.
A few months ago we really began discussing who would be the best person to fill the internet campus pastor role…and Nick was the first person that we thought of. We were not sure if he would be interested…but he was…and is now filling that role.
(HERE is Tony’s interview with him…it is a great read!)
That’s just crazy! BUT…what I just wrote about PUMPS me up…here we had a non-Christian reporter get assigned to a story about our church…we wind up talking about Jesus…he begins to come every week…receives Christ…gets involved…and is now going to pastor our internet church!
THAT is just ONE of the reasons I LOVE THIS PLACE! Seeing people transformed…REALLY transformed…and now Nick is going to be able to lead others through the same journey the Lord has taken him through!
Nick is just one of thousands of lives that have been impacted through the work of Jesus here at NewSpring…BUT there are hundreds and thousands of more “Nicks” out there…let’s do all that we can to reach them!!!