Back in February, I had the opportunity to serve with a dental trailer outreach ministry through YWAM Furnace New Zealand. While the team provides free dental care to people in the community, it also opens the door for something even deeper—meeting people right where they are, listening to their stories, and sharing the hope of Jesus.
That’s where I met a man named Jack.
When I first started talking with him, he didn’t seem very open. His answers were short, and it felt like he mostly wanted to keep to himself. So instead of trying to push conversation, I just stayed present and let the moment unfold naturally.
Over time, he slowly began to open up.
As we talked about life, I felt a gentle prompting from the Holy Spirit to ask him a simple question: “Do you know Jesus?”
At first, he hesitated. But eventually, he began to share his story.
Jack told me he had grown up in church, but as he got older, his life went in a different direction. He was honest about the mistakes he had made, the time he had spent in jail, and the shame he still carried because of it. Even though he was trying to rebuild his life, he admitted that something still felt missing.
As he spoke, I felt the Holy Spirit leading the conversation in a different direction than I expected.
Instead of immediately opening my Bible, I felt led to simply tell him the story of the prodigal son from memory. I shared it like a story, without initially saying where it came from.
In the moment, it felt like the right way to let him hear the heart of the message without any barriers or hesitation getting in the way.
Jack was fully engaged the entire time. Every time I paused, he would ask me to keep going.
When I finished, I told him, “That story is actually from the Bible.”
I explained that the father in the story represents God, and just like the father ran to embrace his son after everything he had done, God is ready to welcome Jack back with the same love and grace.
I told him it is never too late to return to God.
He became emotional and quietly asked, “God sees me like that?”
I asked him if anyone had ever fully shared the Gospel with him before.
He said no—but that he wanted to hear it.
So I shared the Gospel as simply as I could: that Jesus came to seek and save the lost, that His death and resurrection made forgiveness possible, and that no amount of shame or failure can place someone beyond the reach of God’s grace.
When I finished, Jack looked at me and said that no one had ever explained Jesus to him like that before.
I asked if I could pray for him, and he said yes.
As I prayed, I felt a strong sense of the Holy Spirit guiding my words. When I finished, Jack looked at me and asked, “How did you know to pray those things?”
I simply told him, “That wasn’t me. God knows you, and He knows exactly what you need.”
Before he left, Jack shared something that has stayed with me ever since.
He said that normally he wouldn’t have stopped to listen to someone talk about God.
“But this time,” he said, “I felt like I needed to.”
He told me he was glad he stayed, and that he wanted to go home and read that story for himself.
That conversation in February through YWAM Furnace New Zealand taught me something I won’t forget.
Sometimes God asks us to do things a little differently in order to reach the people He’s already pursuing. In that moment, obedience looked like sharing a story from memory instead of immediately opening my Bible. It wasn’t about changing God’s Word—it was about trusting His timing and the way He was leading the conversation.
It reminded me that obedience isn’t always about having the perfect words or following a set formula. Sometimes it’s simply about paying attention to the Holy Spirit and being willing to say yes, even when it feels unfamiliar.
I want to leave you with this question:
Where might God be asking you to step outside of your comfort zone or do something differently in order to reach someone He loves?
And what could change if you simply said yes?
Through my conversation with Jack, I learned that obedience creates space for God to move. What starts as our willingness to listen and respond often becomes the very moment someone else encounters His love.
But I’ve also learned something else through experiences like this: God doesn’t only show up for the people we’re ministering to.
He shows up for us too.
Time and time again, He reminds us that we are never serving alone. And often, while He is speaking through us to reach someone else, He is also strengthening our own faith, reminding us that He is faithful to lead every step of the way.
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