Woman considering suicide instead professes faith in Christ through witness of Southwestern students ‘God had sent’

“What an incredible experience of God,” said Mary*, a Master of Divinity in international church planting student who helped to lead a woman to eternal life who was only minutes before contemplating suicide during a recent Everyday Evangelism visit.

Mary, who began her time at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2021, heard about the work being done through the Everyday Evangelism program and has been involved with multiple groups being sent out. While she has been on many excursions with the group, she felt that this experience “needed to be heard.”

Through Everyday Evangelism, Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptist College students, faculty, and staff are sent in teams to the greater Fort Worth area for the opportunity to share the Gospel to people in the community. Mary, along with John* and Caleb*, went out with a group led by Carl Bradford, assistant professor of evangelism and Malcolm R. and Melba L. McDow Chair of Evangelism.

“I always heard that door-to-door evangelism doesn’t work in the US,” said John, who is from Brazil. “This experience reinforced the conviction that there isn’t a single ‘evangelistic strategy’ that works every time, but none will work unless we boldly apply it by relying in the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit.”

Mary stated that she likes to adjust her evangelism method to “each experience.” As she talks with people, she wants to see how “open they are” to a conversation about religion or God. If they are open and willing to discuss, she likes to then “ask some questions about their life.” She added, “I don’t like to live by one method.”

While canvassing their area and participating in door-to-door evangelism, the three students felt drawn to a specific house. “Even by choosing which apartment door to knock at, we sensed God leading us,” said John. The group felt that the Lord was moving them to knock on this specific door. John was the one who approached the door for the group. That is when they met Carmen.

Even though Carmen, the woman to whom they were witnessing, did not speak English, God still provided an avenue for the team to share with her. “I don’t speak Spanish,” said Mary. “But John and Caleb do. It was amazing to see them be able to communicate with her so well.” Caleb said that even though Mary was only able to communicate through translation, “even through the translation, God was at work.”

The group opened their conversation with Carmen by simply speaking with her about her Catholic upbringing. The group had been instructed on how to evangelize to someone “raised in the Catholic church,” said John, “but what really stood out to me was simply the fact that the person needed to be heard.”

The group shifted and asked if there was anything they could pray for her about. “She told us about her children who were sick and addicted to drugs,” said Mary. “She had grown up in a Catholic household and felt that she was ‘good with God,’” but that’s when the conversation became quite serious. “She said minutes before we walked through, she was going to commit suicide,” Mary continued.

“She was hurting,” said John. “She was in a dark spot in her life, and when we took some time to listen to her struggles and suffering, we had an opening with her.” Not only did the team feel like the Lord had moved them to speak with her, even Carmen herself felt the same way. “After we began talking with her, Carmen told us that she ‘knew God had sent’ us to save her life,” said Mary.

“I could see noticeable changes in her behavior,” said Mary. “She was nice, but she seemed a little closed off at first.” The group could tell that the Lord was working in Carmen’s life while they were speaking with her. Mary recalled that she was “very humbled and very grateful to the Lord for what He did for her.”

After discussing what it meant to truly follow Christ, the group was able to witness a new sister-in-Christ profess her faith in Christ. “It made me understand what it means to feel joy for someone else,” said Caleb, “knowing that on that day one more soul was added to the Kingdom of God.”

John added, “We left our new sister’s apartment sharing the same joy that the angels in heaven were experiencing.”

Caleb said that the experience of seeing someone come to faith in Christ in front of him was “extremely fulfilling.”

“It reminded me that this is the reason why I am in school,” Caleb said, as it showed why he studies “Scripture and the commandments that Jesus taught us.”

The group spoke with Carmen for about an hour. After the conversation, they were able to connect Carmen with a local church where she can be baptized and become involved. When they left, they ended up going to a house and “breaking bread and celebrating together,” said Mary, where they had “had a good New Testament-styled fellowship.”

Everyday Evangelism is open to any Southwestern Seminary and TBC student, faculty, and staff who would like to participate. More information about Everyday Evangelism meeting days, times, and locations can be found here.

*Names changed for security reasons.