August 2008 Issue

Sharing FAITH Down Under
by Bobby H. Welch

God is at work around the world, and He is using those who are willing to obey and be used by Him. Consider this testimony from Steve Grose, pastor of Newcastle Baptist Tabernacle in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It speaks for itself of what God can and will do through those who are simply willing to obey Him.

One Thursday night while my wife and daughters were away on trip to Melbourne (Australia) some five hundred miles away, Nev and Daphne, some lovely church members, invited me to their home for a real meal.

In the course of the meal I introduced the couple to a business card-sized FAITH presentation which I had printed up for church-wide distribution the following Sunday, as I hoped to introduce FAITH to our congregation and other similar congregations. (FAITH is an unknown strategy here in Australia, and I hadn't had any exposure to it, except through meeting Bobby Welch briefly and his encouragement to view the outline on the Internet.)

As we talked over dinner, a neighbor came over and, in distress, spoke of how her husband had just been admitted to the hospital with kidney failure. He had grown up in a Baptist family but had not been to church in over sixty years.

I asked her if she would like me to visit her husband the next day. She said that she wondered if he would make it through to the next day. So I took my new FAITH "trainee," Nev, down to the hospital to share the FAITH outline with Alan.

Nev was quite nervous about the whole situation, as he had spoken with Alan a few times about our church. He was also anxious lest his friend die without ever responding to the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we entered the four-bed ward, Alan sat up, holding out his hand and said, "Neville, you've brought the pastor with you." It turns out, he had been praying for such a visit.

Alan was a little deaf, so leaning over the hospital bed, I took out the business card-sized FAITH outline as a guide. We went through each point slowly, and Alan loudly repeated every phrase and every verse, so all in the ward heard.

After the presentation, I emphasized the need for Alan to call upon the Lord to be his Savior right then. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. I invited him to pray with me, which he did loudly and clearly. He called upon the Lord to be his Savior and at the same time confessed it before all in his ward — rather loudly. Alan immediately demonstrated a real assurance founded upon the cross and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My trainee and I visited with Alan a few times over that week, leaving him with booklets which he avidly devoured, aiding him in his assurance and growth as a Christian. He also passed them on to friends and relatives who visited him on what could have been his death bed.

He was released and we continued to meet with him, but five months later Alan was readmitted to the hospital. One day I decided on the spur of the moment to stop in and see him. The family was amazed, because only moments before they had decided they needed to call me. He had suffered a serious heart attack and was not expected to live much longer. When I entered, he immediately sat up and shook my hand and announced: "I am about to go home to God — and I am glad!" We read the 23rd Psalm together and prayed, and a little while later he hugged his wife and two sons, told them how much he loved them and how now he was prepared, and that he was going home to God. Then, he very peacefully went home to be with the Lord. The family was overwhelmed at the Lord's presence through all of this, and asked me to speak at Alan's funeral service. Of course I presented the Gospel at the service, and it appears that two of his brothers decided to call upon the Lord to be their Saviour. Praise God for His goodness, mercy, and faithfulness!

Bobby H. Welch is a member of First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Florida, Strategist for Global Evangelical Relations with the SBC Executive Committee, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and originator of the FAITH evangelism strategy.

Back to Top
Printer Friendly Version
Email this article to a friend