Leaving the "Christian Cocoon"

I have been preaching about evangelism for the past three weeks in a series based on Bill Hybels' book, Just Walk Across the Room. Sunday, Bruce came up and told me this story about his brother-in-law. With his permission, I want to pass it along to you:

When Tom Michael went off to college, his parents, Wayne and Sue, were a little concerned about how he would handle his faith among the pagan world. After all he had never been out of his "Christian Cocoon" for any real extended time. Western Michigan University was a large college, and a long way from home. Not only that, but he was a bass player in a band that would be playing at night clubs or bars. Not the type of places that would make a christian mother and father comfortable. How would he handle the pressures of the world, his friends, and of course the temptations one has when you're away from home?

Well, Tom had an answer to all the questions. He was a young man who's faith in God was more important to him than anything else. But that was not good enough for him. No, he made sure that the people around him would see that his faith was strong. He wanted them to see that God's way of life was better than anything they had ever experienced before.

Having that kind of attitude made it very easy for God to use him.

By the time Tom graduated, he had led 17 people to the Lord. Had he not gone to Western Michigan, but a Bible college instead, I wonder how many non-Christians he would have reached. I've felt for a long time that a Christian's duty is to be friends of sinners. As you stated so well on Sunday, Jesus made it a habit to spend a lot of time with sinners.

Tom's career as a bass player took him from Western Michigan's Gold Company all the way to Nashville. His commitment to Christ took him all the way from small-town bars to big-city arenas playing bass for the Christian worship band Sonicflood. Frankly Speaking, Tom is a great example for you and me to follow, don't you think?