The mission of Ordinary Hero is to inspire and empower ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in the life of a child in need. Kelly Putty, along with her husband, Shane, wandered into this mission by simply creating philanthropic adventures —first for their own children, then for some ladies in their church. And as is often the case with helping children, Kelly and Shane kept falling forward into one adventure after another.

by KELLY PUTTY — When my children were small and occasionally complained too much, my husband, Shane, and I knew exactly what to do to serve up a good dose of reality. We’d load all five of them all into the van and set out on an adventure. Adventure, in the form of homeless people on the streets of downtown Nashville, was never hard to find. Pulling our van up to a homeless person laying on a street vent for warmth, I would cut a piece of my famous pumpkin bread, pour a cup of hot coffee, and allow our kids to engage in a random act of kindness.

The homeless are always very grateful for an unexpected meal. Sometimes, they would stand and talk to us — some of them without teeth, dirty from living on the street, carrying with them everything they owned. No matter how many homeless adventures we undertook, our kids were always shocked that people actually lived on the streets with no home, no food, and rarely a clean change of clothes. That occasional dose of reality never lost its potency. It never failed to renew their appreciation for things that they did have. This was the goal — to give our children a sense of perspective and compassion.

Church Ladies to the Rescue
It struck me one day how self-centered the conversation in our ladies’ Bible study group had become. We talked primarily about the hope, dreams, and unfulfilled desires of our perfect little worlds. So, I decided to do for them what had worked for my own family. I took my Bible study group out for a downtown homeless adventure. We all needed another dose of reality, myself included.

We hit the streets to look for the homeless. It was a terribly cold evening, and we could find no one. Asking around, we were directed to the women’s homeless shelter in Nashville. I expected that we would find some of the same women we encountered on the street. What shocked me was the number of children living at the homeless shelter. The kids lit up when they saw the snacks and quickly devoured our supply. As I looked around the room, I saw each of these relatively affluent ladies in my bible study group holding a homeless child and talking to that homeless child’s mother. We all left with our hearts broken for those children and their stories. It was then that I saw the impact of serving others and the eye-opening difference that it continued to make in the lives of those that serve, just as much as those that are served.

Halloween for the Homeless
In 2006, as our church was preparing for our annual fall festival on Halloween night, I couldn’t quit thinking of the children in the shelter. The ladies from our church, Bethel World Outreach Center, got involved by providing costumes for those children. We picked them all up in the church bus for what was supposed to be a fun night for some shelter kids. It turned into an event that was life changing in so many ways. It was the beginning of something far greater than we ever could have expected.

Over the next few years, my family, my friends, and my church family, and I regularly got involved helping women and their children. Each time I presented a need, people willingly stepped up to fill it. So many people are anxious to help, but most just don’t know what to do. We organized community outreaches to women and children in 2006, 2007, and 2008. I had just wandered into serving people and discovered that all along God had a plan for me being there.

First Experience with Adoption
My involvement with the women’s shelter enabled me to cross paths with a pregnant mother. She was hopeless and thought her only option was to have her baby and walk away, leaving her child at the hospital under the Safe Haven Act. My friend, Janet Morris, and I talked to this young mother and assured her that we were there to help. Within twenty-four hours we found a family for her baby, retained an adoption attorney, and got a social worker on board — more examples of people anxious to make a difference. The expectant mother was able to meet and approve of the adoptive family. She was at peace realizing that her child was going to have a better life than what she could have ever provided. It was the most amazing experience for all involved and one that only fueled our passion to continue our efforts help more children find their forever family.

Why Me?
People have often asked me why is it that dirty, helpless, needy people are the ones that draw me in? Believe me, I have asked myself that same question many times. My only answer is that I believe it comes from the result of experiencing an attack and assault in my own life at the age of sixteen. It left me feeling dirty, helpless, and needy in many ways. I feel that I can relate to these children in need who feel that their own lives are spinning out of control. Instead of shuddering and turning the other way, I want to go sit right in the middle of them. Though often inconvenient, the joy that comes from helping others in need is very addicting and brings purpose to the pain in my own life that the Lord healed me from. I am able to share my hope with others in need.

Shane & Kelly Putty family

Ordinary Hero
In 2010 we established Ordinary Hero Foundation as a nonprofit, 501c3, child advocacy organization. It was simply a continuation of what our friends and family had been doing together for the last four years. Our goal is to encourage and provide a way for every person to make a difference in the life of a child in need — through adoption, missions, or local outreach. In the last three years, we have helped many in need through our different local outreaches. We have taken over 200 people on mission trips to countries including Ethiopia, Haiti, and South Africa. We have helped advocate for hundreds of children waiting to be placed for adoption, resulting in over 100 children finding their forever families.

Kelly Putty is the founder and director of Ordinary Hero Foundation. For more information on Ordinary Hero Foundation, go to  www.ordinaryhero.org.

Sorority Bible Study at SMU

by EMILY HARRISON — What drew me to Christ were the concentrated prayers of several girls in my sorority at  the University of North Florida. My sorority sisters were also part of Every Nation Campus Ministries, and the focus of their prayers was for sorority members to attend Every Nation’s upcoming Campus Harvest. Some of my sorority sisters later commented, “Of all those we prayed for, Emily Harrison was the one we least expected to go.” But I did go, and at Campus Harvest I put my faith in the love of Christ and received God’s forgiveness.

Today, I have the privilege of serving as an Every Nation campus missionary at Southern Methodist University (SMU). One of my greatest desires has been to reach sorority women. But how? Even though I’d been in a sorority, the sororities at SMU were incredibly closed. After a lot of prayer, I felt the Lord leading me to involve myself even more deeply in the sorority world in order to win these women for Christ. As an alumna of my sorority, I volunteered as a National Advisor for my sorority. In that capacity I serve as a  leadership training facilitator and now host trainings for sorority chapters all over Texas and Oklahoma.

We’re generally not allowed to share our faith in these trainings, but I incorporate part of my story into the material when discussing personal credibility. I talk about how becoming a Christian transformed me from the girl who always acted like a crazy person to a woman with integrity and credibility. I share how that directly resulted in me being elected chapter vice president. That story always gets attention.

In October of 2012, I did a training session at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). That’s how I met Kelsey, an officer in her sorority’s chapter. She approached me afterward about helping her start a sorority Bible study. I was ecstatic! Kelsey and I began with three girls, but it wasn’t long until our group grew to fifteen women from four different sororities.

Kelsey began encouraging her small group to attend Every Nation’s student conference, Campus Harvest. I loved that idea. Campus Harvest is where I surrendered my life to Christ. Many of them eventually decided to trust what Kelsey kept saying — that it was going to be a lot of fun.

Emily Harrison

After hearing many of the speakers at the conference, the girls kept coming up to me and saying things like, “I’ve never heard the Gospel like that,” and “I’ve been in church my whole life, and I didn’t know what it meant.” More and more of them kept repenting of sins — one got baptized, and four were filled with the Holy Spirit. Two of the freshmen most impacted by Campus Harvest, Brittany and Sheridan, decided to start small group Bible studies at UTA, each with their own respective sororities.

I know that each of these women at UTA are glad someone came after them, just as glad as I am that my sorority sisters in Every Nation pursued me. And I know that they’re excited about the opportunity to reach more women on their campus with the Gospel.

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Emily Harrison is a campus missionary at Southern Methodist University.

Coincidently (or providentially), I had walked 383 miles over five weeks and had arrived at that particular UCF dormitory in order to lead a prayer gathering for the students. That weekend, Seevakumaran attempted to initiate what could have likely turned into the most deadly campus massacres in U.S. history.

Prayer walking is not my common practice. A few years ago, I could hardly walk across a campus. Severe inflammation, acute arthritis, and eleven years in the National Football League had all taken their toll. But then, I received this extremely uncommon sense of the Holy Spirit’s leading. I was to walk from one end of Florida to the other, interceding for the people of the state as I walked. Though that idea was completely out-of-the-box for me, nothing had ever been clearer. Nevertheless, I tested idea on family and friends.

Though I solicited local and Every Nation leaders to talk me out of it, I got no reprieve. I all but begged for some kind of opposition at a family gathering — no takers there either. I had barely finished sharing the concept before all my kids got excited and began planning “dear old dad’s” prayer walking adventure. So that was it. I would spend eleven weeks walking 700 miles from the City Hall in Pensacola to South Beach, interceding for Florida all along the way. I would walk four days a week, take Wednesday to rest, and use weekends to prepare and lead services at Orlando World Outreach Center. A volunteer from the church would follow me in a RV as I walked and prayed on the back roads of Florida.

Tim Johnson with some students at Florida State University

Some of the greatest experiences were praying for people who stopped me, wanting to know what I was doing. The times at Florida State University (FSU) and Florida A&M University (FAMU) were fantastic. Dave Hess, Every Nation Regional Coordinator for universities in Georgia and Florida, organized groups of students to walk their campuses praying for fellow students. They didn’t join me; it was my privilege to join them.

The greatest experience so far has been the prayer meeting in front of the dormitory at UCF, the site of what could have been a student massacre that weekend. I particularly remember the prayers for UCF students voiced by a doctor from our church in Orlando — his son lives in that dorm.

Knowing now what nearly happened is quite sobering. I personal believe that our prayers had a lot to do with the circumstances that prevented the unspeakable tragedy. The gunman pulled the fire alarm shortly after midnight at Tower 1 residence hall and returned to his room to prepare to initiate the final thing on his list, which was to “Give ‘em hell.” When confronted by his roommate, Arabo Babakhani, he raised his rifle and prepared to fire. The round jammed in the chamber. According to a lead investigator, that particular rifle almost never jams. If it does, simply pulling the bolt action again clears the chamber. However, the bullet was so jammed that it rendered the rifle useless. Seevakumaran eventually took his own life, but no one else was hurt.

I am seven weeks and 423 miles into my journey, praying as I go and expecting miracles everyday. I plan to arrive in South Beach on or around May 5, 2013. Join me in praying for your campus, your city — for our nation and the advancing of the Gospel worldwide.

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Tim Johnson is the pastor of Orlando World Outreach Center in Orlando, FL where he lives with his wife, Le’Chelle, and their children.

I served on the campus of GMU for several years as a lay minister before entering a full-time role. During this time, I figured out a lot of ways to not have anyone show up at a Bible study, four or five ways to not run a large group meeting, hundreds of ways to not raise up student leaders. . . and then it happened. We finally hit on something that works for us in our mission context and that matches our ministry personality. As a result, we are enjoying one of the most exciting seasons of growth that we’ve ever experienced.

In April of 2012, we launched a student meeting we call “UChurch.” As we come up on our one-year-anniversary of this meeting, we’ve grown from about fifteen students to approximately 150 students who consider themselves a part of our ministry.

Here are some of the amazing stories of transformation on campus from the real heroes — the student missionaries:

Larry is a young man who received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior on the first weekend of the fall semester. He had just moved to the area and responded radically to the Gospel presentation. Larry has passionately pursued growth as a disciple and is really causing a stir for Christ at the Northern Virginia Community College, which is one of our focus points as a ministry.

Ryan is a freshman we met while he was passing out free snow cones on campus at GMU. He already considered himself part of the Every Nation family and was eager to partner in making disciples. He planned and executed several outreaches for the floor of his dorm room. Ryan is ready and willing to preach the Gospel to anyone without concern for his reputation.

Tanita and Ladesha  are freshmen at GMU and live on Ryan’s dorm floor. Ryan aggressively invited Tanita to come with him to UChurch. Following an encounter with Christ, Tanita then started sharing the Gospel with all of her friends, including Ladesha. Both ladies attended Campus Harvest in Raleigh-Durham in March and came back with an incredible passion to reach the students of GMU. They “accidentally” started a new small group on Saturday night at Campus Harvest that they brought back to their dorm.

David & Megan Hermes and Family.     Every Nation Campus Director, George Mason University

After years of learning what not to do, we are watching God use student missionaries like Larry, Ryan, Tanita, and Ladesha to infiltrate their dorms and several student organizations on campus including the Black Student Association, NSBE.

We have a lot more things to learn what not to do, but right now we’re enjoying a season of growth and reproduction. It’s true what Steve Murrell (President of Every Nation Ministries) says about “the same old boring strokes.” Of all the creative, fun, and outrageous things I’ve tried to do in order to the reach the students in our region, NOTHING has been more effective than making disciples — pouring into students who are passionate about reaching other students.

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David Hermes is the Every Nation Campus Director at George Mason University.

So, what’s going on? Is this just another way to raise money? Is it wise stewardship? Is it effective? Is it biblical? The New Testament makes several direct references to these kinds of financial partnerships, and the concept is implied in many more places.

Example #1: The Apostle Paul refers to Titus as his “partner and fellow worker among you” (2 Corinthians 8:23). That passage shows a partnership between fellow ministers, each of whom had been set apart for the full-time ministry.

Example #2: In Paul’s letter to Philemon and the church that met in his house, the partnership concept is more broadly applied. Paul argues on behalf of the slave Oneimus saying, “If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me” (Philemon 1:17). Paul considered himself a partner with Philemon and his house church.

Example #3:  A letter from John the Apostle shows what is likely the clearest example of financial partnership between Christians and individual missionaries.

“Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.”

— 3 John 5-8

“Strangers” in the previous passage did not refer to people who simply wandered in off the street, but ministers who went out in the Lord’s name, obviously ministers commissioned by other churches. Supporting those ministers caused the church and its members to become fellow workers with the truth — in other words, financial partners.

The concept of partnership can be applied in many ways — to relationships, to criminal ventures, to sports, to dancing. But whenever non-profits or ministers talk about financial partners, it’s always in the context of investors. It’s like becoming partners in a business venture, the business being the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. Ministry operatives do things on behalf of their investors’ interests.

OWNERSHIP, STEWARDSHIP, AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Missionaries with a partnership mentality don’t simply think in terms of donor communications. They think in terms of investor relations. In their minds, they’re reporting to those who have, at the very least, part ownership in the enterprise, not just a casual interest. That’s what is implied by partnership. It doesn’t mean that people who support a ministry or short-term mission trip own the missionary. Partners are, however, part owners in the endeavor. Their money, plus time and service, equals a partnership.

At Every Nation Churches, the senior leaders consistently refer to local churches, leadership teams, and donor groups as “the owners.” Other organizations may do that, but I’ve never seen it. The “owner” designation is a constant reminder of their own position as servants and stewards.

Many of the greatest evangelistic movements of this generation, particularly youth movements, were founded by men like Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), Dawson Trottman (The Navigators), Loren Cunningham (Youth With a Mission), and many others who never took a salary but were funded from beginning to end by teams of financial partners.”

— Steve Murrell

“I never have enough financial partners because my passion to recruit has little to do with money. It’s about being on a team. I provide for my partners the ability to participate in something they will never do on their own. They need to be partners on a financial team just as much as missionaries need for them to be on it. Ten Days missionaries need to understand that the spiritual dynamic at work here is less about money for their trip and more about their need to step out in faith, share their vision, and build a team of partners.”

— Gregg Tipton

Here’s the inescapable reality: there will always be far more people with a desire to serve in vocational ministry than there are salaried positions available. For instance, there are more than 700 churches in the city where I live, an American city with over 80,000 students attending twenty-one colleges and universities. The aggregate budget for all those churches is enormous, yet you could count on one hand the number of church-salaried campus missionaries sent to share the Gospel on the local university campus.

Partnering with a trained and dedicated missionary on the campus or in another country can be the most rewarding and effective investment you will ever make. In doing so, we become “fellow workers with the truth.” Obviously, you cannot partner with every missionary, but the next time one calls, do everything you can to pray, refer, or support their efforts — as those who have “gone out for the sake of the name.”

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Walt Walker is the editor of Every Nation News and Updates.

On July 30, 2012, I went over to the TSU recreation center to meet with some guys, intending to go through the God Test with a friend I had known for years. As a joke, he motioned to a guy on the basketball court and yelled, “Come on over; this brother’s gonna preach to you.” That seemingly random event got everything going. I began praying for the guy who was invited over, Wesley Davis, the starting point guard on the TSU basketball team. Less than three months later, Wesley gave his life to Jesus and joined my Monday night Bible study.

Mike Yates — Every Nation Campus Ministry Intern

Joel Wright’s baptism

The New Testament reveals many instances in which a whole group of people came to Christ through the first person who responded. For us, Wesley was the key that unlocked the TSU basketball team.

One day, Wesley told me that his roommate and fellow basketball teammate, Joel Wright, sent him a text message about getting right with God. Wesley prayed that night with Joel to receive Christ as his Savior. After that, Joel’s first thought was reaching out to his teammates, so he proposed a basketball Bible study on Sunday afternoons and prayer before each game. Our first Sunday basketball Bible study ended with everyone going out to the San Marcos River for Joel’s baptism — all of his teammates watching.

Over the last few month, four other TSU basketball players have come to Christ through the Monday night Bible study — Deonté Jones, Phil Hawkins, Dorsey, and Reid Koenen.

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Mike Yates is an Every Nation Campus Ministry Intern at Texas State University.

I knew that these young men and women were all hardworking, highly committed people who were willing to do anything for the sake of the Gospel. My opening comment was,

“If you’re not experiencing the kind of fruitfulness you desire, it’s not because you are too lazy to minister. It might be because you minister too much.”

I went onto explain the difference between “too much ministering” in contrast to investing time equipping others to do the ministering. The “Myth of Maturity” is the idea that new believers shouldn’t minister until they are mature, until all their problems are worked out, until they have a thorough understanding of the Bible. The truth is, Christian maturity is the result of ministering the Gospel, not a  prerequisite for it. It’s a learn-by-doing endeavor. One-on-one campus evangelism, small group leadership, and short-term missions are all Christian growth experiences for disciples at every stage of spiritual growth.

Leaders who labor under this misconception (the Myth of Maturity) are limited in how much fruit they produce and how many disciples they make simply because they have to do everything themselves. The strategy for Every Nation leaders is the same as it was for Jesus — small group discipleship that quickly establishes new believers in the faith, equips them to minister, and empowers them to make other disciples.

My suggestion that the Every Nation leaders might be ministering too much was simply to drive home a point. In reality, most of those leaders in Asia had never been exposed to the Myth of Maturity. No one informed them about what they couldn’t do. From the time they first believed, they accepted the commission to “go into all the world and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19-20).

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Steve Murrell is the president of Every Nation Ministries.

September 2012 i-mix Welcome Party for International Students

 Follow i-mix on Facebook

by DAVID AND THERESA WIGGINS — There are more than 750,000 international students in the U.S, typically representing the top one percent of their nation’s commercial, educational, and political elite. Most of them are sent to American universities to be primed for leadership in their home countries. “Home” for sixty percent of these temporary visitors is a restricted-access nation with significant-to-severe limitations on sharing the Gospel. We have no greater opportunity to make disciples of all nations than the opportunity that has been placed right in front of us.

i-mix Launch
In July 2011, after six months of prayer with a small core team, we launched International Ministry & Interest Xchange (i-mix) in North Carolina’s Research Triangle as a division of Every Nation Campus Ministry (ENCM). Our mission is to penetrate the international student community with the Gospel and to make disciples of these future leaders and potential missionaries. We do this by mobilizing local churches and campus groups to show hospitality, model a Christ-like community, and build relational bridges for the Gospel.

i-mix  International Welcome Parties
At the beginning of each semester, we sponsor a big i-mix party for Americans and internationals. That event facilitates the beginning of many genuine friendships and invitations to American homes.  Eventually, it leads to Bible-discussion parties in homes throughout Raleigh, Durham, and the Chapel Hill area.

Transitions for Internationals
International students arriving in the United States often experience difficult and lonely transitions. In addition to being separated from their families (many for the first time), they also have many more needs than the average college student — i.e., acquiring furniture, grocery shopping, cross-cultural communications, and dealing with a lack of mass transportation in the U.S. There are so many opportunities for i-mix volunteers to serve international students — local and regional tours, English conversation practices, and visits to museum and the zoo are a just few practical examples.

Apart from these significant needs, one of their most commonly expressed desires is for an American friend. Yet, only one in fifteen international students ever steps into an American home where they can see the Gospel lived out by Christian families. Since the founding of ii-mixin 2011, an estimated 200 Christian families, students, and even grandparents have initiated several touch points with over 250 internationals. Last month, the i-mix team enabled about one hundred internationals to enjoy Thanksgiving dinners among twenty-four Christian families from King’s Park Church, the Every Nation church in Durham, NC.

2012 i-mix Team

i-mix Life Group Bible Studies
Regular i-mix Life Group Bible studies in Christian homes have multiplied from two to seven.

— Four internationals from Mainland China wanting to learn more about Christianity attend John Gray’s weekly i-mix Life Group where they are going through the Gospel of John.

— One of our i-mix leaders, Yer Moua, is a mother of three with a passionate evangelistic gift. Her bimonthly group includes a scrumptious meal, followed by English conversation and Bible Study. She has, one at a time, gently led more than half of her international friends to the Lord.

— Julia graduated from China’s renowned Peking University and came to the U.S. and eventually worked on her Masters in Economics at Duke University. A year of international culture shock, isolation, and series of traumatic experiences left her struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. When Julia showed up at a Bible study, she decided to pray to receive Christ.

Two years later and completely healed, Julia now spends her after work hours serving internationals as an i-mix leader at Duke with Pastor Reggie Roberson’s team. She has come to play major role in the lives of ten Chinese and American friends who committed themselves to Christ. Julia’s desire for the future is to go back to her beloved China to share the Gospel.

Missional Impact Through i-mix

While our i-mix Every Nation campus ministers like Dave Stremic, Michael & Grace Wilson, and Cindy Simpson have been fruitful in reaching internationals and leading the way, local church members are also modeling how working professionals can live out missional lives through their work with i-mix.”  Ron Lewis, Pastor of King’s Park Church, says,

i-mix mobilizes people in the local church who may never see themselves as an ambassador or an evangelist. By showing hospitality, they open the front door to multiple opportunities to share Jesus and His kingdom. Because of the front door of love and hospitality, the Gospel is almost always received with an open heart. Our experience has been that a significant percentage of internationals we reach out to, end up meeting Jesus Christ.”

Jason McDaniel, Campus Director of University of North Carolina, comments on the i-mix strategy,

i-mix has provided the structure we need to start moving forward with our vision to reach internationals.  For any vision to succeed, you have to say it and systematize it. We’ve been saying that we want to reach internationals for a long time, but i-mix has helped us systematize how to do that much more effectively than what was previously done.”

The mission for reaching campuses locally as a strategy for advancing the Kingdom globally is not new to King’s Park Church, evidenced by the numerous churches being planted by graduates sent out by King’s Park. Again, Pastor Ron Lewis, comments on the value of local church involvement with international student ministry:

 i-mix is on the front lines of a church family showing genuine Christian hospitality to some of the most valuable and simultaneously overlooked people in the community. Overlooked, because they are students who are thousands of miles away from home, unknown, isolated, and living in a strange culture.  Valuable, because these students are also the very image of God and they represent the future leadership of nations that God fully intends to reach.  Most often missionaries in places of greatstrategy, working with students who will one day provide significant leadership for their nation – all kinds of leadership – education, political, medicine, finance, science…”

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David and Theresa Wiggins are the directors of i-mix, a ministry of Every Nation Campus Ministries located in Raleigh, NC.

The first group of Christians at Ephesus expressed a second reason why believers had not been baptized with the Spirit. When the Apostle Paul asked the Ephesian believers, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed,” they answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” In other words, they had not been empowered by the Spirit because, up until then, no one had explained it to them. Believers occasionally (but not normally) are filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit without hearing anything about the “promise of the Father.” However, what normally happens is that someone explains the baptism of the Holy Spirit from the Scriptures, lays their hands on the individual, and prays for him or her to receive.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not intended to be an option or an accessory to our Christian experience, but a promise for every believer. Peter made that point in his first sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

— Acts 2:38-40 (ESV)

If the promise is intended for every believer, then it’s a part of the ministry of everyone who makes disciples.

TWO BAPTISMS
Once a person has repented and placed faith in Christ, the Scriptures spell out two things that should happen — that person should be baptized in water and should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). In order to lay a solid foundation in a believer’s life, it’s important that you and I are able to clearly share through Scripture how to experience both. The Purple Book, an amazing Bible study, uses the Scriptures to unpack and explicate these two areas. This article is meant to be a handy guide for presenting the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

HOW TO SHARE THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
When you’re telling someone about the need to be baptized in water, it’s a great opportunity to check the foundation of Lordship, which is giving your life in obedience to Christ. Water baptism is a simple, yet profound, way of expressing love for Christ by obeying that simple command. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, however, is a bit different. You’re now asking someone to receive a gift from God, their heavenly Father.

1. The Person of the Holy Spirit
As you begin, it’s important to remove misconceptions about the Holy Spirit.

First of all, the Spirit is a “He”, not an “it” nor a force.

Also, the Holy Spirit is God—the third person of the Trinity.

Thirdly, the Holy Spirit is a good gift from God the Father. God would not give us anything to harm us.

Fourthly, the Holy Spirit empowers us for ministry and enables believers with His gifts. He does not “over-power” us, causing us to lose control of ourselves.

2. Receiving the Indwelling Holy Spirit
Going to the Word of God is crucial because faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Begin with John 20:22, “And with that, he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” When you repent and believe in Jesus, you receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Because God dwells in your spirit, the fruit of the Spirit can grow in your life.

3. Being Baptized with the Holy Spirit
God also wants to baptize us with the Holy Spirit. This is more than an indwelling. After Jesus had breathed on the disciples in John 20:22, He tells them, “I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

Luke picks up this concept again in Acts 1:5, 8: “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit… But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The disciples are asked to wait for a gift from God to empower them to be His witness. A clear example of this power is seen in the life of Peter. Before Jesus was crucified, Peter denied Jesus three times, presumably out of fear. In Acts 2, after Peter was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, he preached a powerful message. The result was that 3,000 souls were saved and added to the church that day. The Holy Spirit is powerful in us!

4. Examples from Scripture
After explaining these three basic concepts, take the person to all of the accounts of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. They are found in:

 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4).

The emphasis is on “all” — not one believer was left out.

 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:15-17)

The people here receiving the Holy Spirit were already Christians who had been baptized in water.

 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God” (Acts 10:44-46).

The evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues and praising God.

 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:1-6).

Again, we have another story in which the people being prayed for were already followers of Christ. They were baptized in the name of the Lord, and someone prayed over them to receive the Holy Spirit.

It’s important to have the person read these scriptures aloud as you are discussing each one. As they speak God’s Word, build up their faith.

At this point, you can show them that God baptized people in these accounts in two ways; by either visiting them Himself or by other believers laying hands on them.

5. The Gifts of the Spirit
In 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Paul mentions the nine spiritual gifts and says that the manifestation of the Spirit was given for the common good. Speaking in tongues is mentioned here, along with interpretation of tongues.

6. Laying on of Hand and Prayer
At this point, the person you are ministering to should have a clear understanding of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. You can ask them if they are ready to receive this gift. It’s important for you to be full of faith and sense that they also have faith to receive from God. When we as believers pray for someone, we’re trusting in God’s power (not our own) to fill them with the Holy Spirit.

Before praying, explain the process. Explain that you’re going to lay your hands on them and pray that God will baptize them in the Holy Spirit. God will respond, fill them, and give them a new, heavenly language. It’s not one they can understand with their natural mind, but a language that God gives them to pray according to the Spirit. They must respond in faith and not wait for God to “move their tongue,” but rather trust that the words that are coming from their spirit are God’s words.

A helpful exercise before praying is to ask the person, “What will happen when I lay my hands on you?” Note their response. Do they believe they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will speak in tongues? It’s better to wait until you’re confident that they are ready. Don’t try to force something to happen.

When you pray, be bold. Expect God to do what His Word promises and remember that it’s His power, not yours, that’s in operation. Your focus should be on blessing the person for whom you’re praying and seeing their walk with God go to new levels as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

REVERENCE: Scriptures Used to Explain the Baptism with the Holy Spirit
A recap of the scriptural progression, which you can write as a handy reference in the back of your Bible, is:

• John 20:22
• Luke 24:49
• Acts 1:5, 8
• Acts 2:4
• Acts 8:15-17
• Acts 10:44-46
• Acts 19:1-6
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

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Carol Fidler is member or the pastoral staff at Bethel World Outreach Center in Brentwood, TN.

Sarah Oberst

by SARAH OBERST — My college experience was an intellectual awakening but not the kind I had anticipated. I grew up believing in God and called myself a Christian, but in reality, I knew little about Christianity or what it claimed. When intellectual questions about faith arose in college, it seemed that I was being forced to pick either reason or faith. Eventually, I abandoned my Christian faith and made (what I thought to be) the intelligent choice. It was in a Southeast Asian slum many months later that I began to find my way back to Christ.

Three weeks after my graduation, I moved to Cagayan de Oro, a congested and chaotic city in the southern Philippines. There, I lived between a highway and a slum so I could work for a nonprofit doing microfinance research. Six months into this new life, a close family friend died in a freak car accident in my hometown. A friend challenged me a few days later about my faith, so I explained that I couldn’t comprehend a God who allowed this much pain in the world. It seemed that I was no more grounded in my unbelief than I had been in my faith. However, this friend’s question prompted a few months of intense exploration.

Fast forward a year, and I had moved up to the sprawling capital city of Manila. A series of chance meetings — in a coffee shop, on a street corner — led a friend of a friend to casually invite me to church. I surprised myself by agreeing, and again by accepting an invitation to a small group. My second week, after nearly deciding not to go back, I met a girl who — against all odds — had attended the same tiny college as I had back in the U.S.

We spent the next six weeks walking through One2One (an Every Nation Bible study) together. Each week I would arrive with a laundry list of reasons as to why I couldn’t believe in God, and she would patiently sit with me as I wrestled through my doubts. The night before I was baptized, I recall sitting at dinner with my small group and quietly observing the ease with which they exhibited such unbreakable faith. In that moment, the faith that had been hovering just outside my grasp finally took root in my heart. I had finally come home.

Two weeks from that night, I literally came home to Boston. My first Sunday back I walked into Aletheia Church (the Every Nation church) and nearly burst into tears at the opening chords to the same worship songs that I had sung in Manila. For now, I’m learning to live with a totally new faith in the city where I grew up. I am also learning to love those around me with the same humility and patience that I experienced with my friends. Most of all, I am learning to walk in faith with the God in whom I had tried to not to believe.

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Sarah Oberst attends Aletheia Church in Cambridge, MA.