“Is this a movie?” Christian asked as he raced toward the metro in Hollywood, Calif.
Christian was homeless, broken, and in desperate need of hope. He had recently arrived in Los Angeles and had spent the last week in the depths of the subway. I was serving with our South Carolina Palmetto Collective group of college students when we approached Christian with a blanket and shared the gospel with him. The North American Mission Board missionary, Jacob, shared the gospel and invited him to come to a discipleship-based rehab facility and church plant.
Christian agreed to go, and as they walked to the subway, the doors began to shut. Our college team stopped the train, and they raced toward the metro. Jacob assured him that this was no movie. This was real life and the road to true freedom.
We emerged out of the subway, and Christian got into a Send Relief van with NAMB missionaries. He looked up at the church as they approached and saw the words, Set Free Church. The men were standing outside and were an unlikely group of disciples. They had all been pulled off the street themselves and were now serving at the ministry helping to rehab guys like Christian.
Jacob pulled a few strings, and Christian was accepted on the spot. Overjoyed, Christian gave him a big hug and said, “Thank you for letting me be a part of your movie.”
The South Carolina Baptist “movie” is an epic film that has been playing for the past 200 years with similar scenes of life transformation. Starring in this episode were a variety of stars funded by the generosity of South Carolina Baptists. The Send City coordinator, Will Browning, was once a funded church planter in South Carolina and is now funded by the North American Mission Board, along with Jacob.
Christian will be ministered to by church plants funded directly by South Carolina Baptists — churches like Taylors First Baptist and Barnwell First Baptist. The college students were sent by South Carolina Baptist churches through the Janie Chapman Offering.
Whose movie are you a supporting actor in? When you share the gospel with others, you enter their spiritual story. Lights. Camera. Action.