pizza night

we served pizza tonight at Russo's downtown in Glenwood. They make a great New York style pizza. Many people from the church showed up and they donated quite a bit of money to help on our mission trip this summer. But the best part wasn't the money they donated. The best part was the people who came and ate and talked. It was fun to see people from the church talking and eating together and to have a chance to tell them more about the trip that we are taking this summer.

I had one amazing surprise. His name is Alex and he was sitting by himself. So I went over and introduced myself and told him the one thing that seemed to surprise people the most tonight. "Thanks for coming in, I bet you didn't know you were supporting high school students going on a mission trip this summer when you bought your pizza." He looked at me with a surprised look and asked me what we'd be doing. I wasn't sure if he was fishing to be upset or if he was really interested so I started as gently as possible. "We're going do service projects in the morning and help people who need it. Then in the evenings we'll meet at the park and invite the students from the town to join us." Then I got bold and told him point blank, "We're going to share Jesus with the students in Roundup."

The look on his face changed fast. "Bless you brother," he told me to my relief. I then learned that he had been involved in a Muslim cult and that God had revealed himself to Alex through a coworker that he constantly mocked and ridiculed to gain favor with a boss at an old job. He told me how the man never responded in kind and was always nice. One day he asked why he never fought back and the man told him that he is a Christian and didn't think it was right to respond negatively. This struck Alex powerfully and he asked to learn more. Soon after that he was baptized and dedicated his life to following Jesus.

It was a great story to hear and I was really interested to see how he had come out of Islam. And the only reason he was eating pizza that night was because the mexican restaurant was closed and Russo's wasn't. It was an encouraging conversation and one that God used to spur me on.

what a great night...