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HOUSTON—As David Mills made his way from one Houston neighborhood to another, he noticed a father and son riding through the area on their bikes and felt led to pray for them. “I just asked God to get the gospel to them,” Mills recounted after arriving in the Waters Edge community near Humble, where neighbors were attending a block party on Saturday hosted at the home of a member of Northeast Houston Baptist Church.¨¨
For the past week Mills has been guiding a group of students from several campuses of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southwestern to share their faith door to door and on the streets of Houston.¨¨
Students Benjamin Smith and Harrison Chow were ready to welcome Jose Fernando and his son after they followed signs leading to another block party hosted by Northeast Houston Baptist.
“One student led that same dad I had prayed for to the Lord while the other student led the son,” Mills said, noting his awe in the way God had directed them to the home that wasn’t even near the neighborhood where he had seen them riding earlier.¨¨
Over the course of the week the SWBTS evangelism professor encouraged the students to make prayer a priority as they set out across the city, sharing their faith in very diverse settings.¨¨
“This church prepared with prayer,” Mills said, praising the groundwork laid by Pastor Nathan Lino, a Southwestern alum who is finishing service as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “We went into the Fifth Ward of Houston where the median income is $11,000 to northeast Houston where it’s $90,000,” Mills explained, describing the people in both areas as “wildly responsive.”
By mid-week, Mills said he sensed “the Lord wanted to break through even more” as the students prayed more intensely for conversions. “The number of professions of faith nearly tripled the next day,” he reported.¨¨
“We have found where there has been intense and fervent prayer there is an openness to the Holy Spirit with humility and repentance,” Mills said. “Otherwise, it’s almost a hostility to the gospel.”
“God has been moving in amazing ways,” added James Jordan, a member of Northeast Houston Baptist who coordinated the four block parties and the participation of the Southwestern students. “Our pastor’s focus in 2013 has been on prayer,” he explained, describing hour-long sessions on Sunday evening and corporate prayer during morning worship.¨¨
In the week leading up to the block parties, the Southwestern team reported more than 190 professions of faith among the people they encountered on the streets of Houston and in door-to-door neighborhood visits.¨¨
Mills said he has no doubt that door-to-door visitation remains an effective way to share the gospel and enjoys equipping students to discover that for themselves.
“And it doesn’t hurt that we have a president at our seminary who is an evangelist,” he added, alluding to Paige Patterson.
