“I was telling them everything about the faith, but I didn’t know how to bring them to faith.”
He had no experience with Christianity, yet at his most desperate moment, while attempting to end his life, Derek heard the Lord speaking directly to him, “Why do you not ask me for help?”
The very next day, Derek went to church for the first time in his life. He wanted to know how others who followed the Lord lived their lives. He began meeting regularly with them, and when he read the Gospels, he fell on his knees, weeping, saying, “I understand my sinfulness and what Jesus has done for me.”
This prayer ignited in him a desire to share this amazing news, this overwhelming joy, with others who might be feeling worthless or even contemplating suicide. He decided prison was a place of much darkness and a natural place to start. Inmates are convinced about their own sinfulness, so the idea of repentance is an obvious next step, but they don’t know what it really means.
Derek went to the local prison regularly. The inmates listened, but to his dismay, no one got saved. He realized, “I was telling them everything about the faith, but I didn’t know how to bring them to faith.”
Someone at church recommended he take Project Philip training. This training, a one-on-one discipleship program focused on understanding the Bible, is made possible through your generosity. There, he was equipped with tools and training to lead people to Jesus. When he started putting the training into action, every month there were people coming to Jesus, and they started encouraging other inmates to participate in the program! As they were transferred to other prisons, many of those saved inmates became the group leaders there, multiplying the impact!
Today, Derek is the coordinator for Project Philip training in prisons and corresponds with many of the inmates involved in the program. Derek declares, “Now with sharing the Gospel I have stopped worrying, and I have learned how to sow and water the seeds and leave the rest to God because He is doing an amazing job!”
You are making it possible for Derek and other local champions in Poland to bring the Light of Jesus Christ into the darkest corners of their nation.
Hear Derek share his story.