On a Monday night in October of 2002, Rebecca St. James had a concert scheduled at a large church in Arvada, Colorado. Having taken our youth group to her concert in 1999, I knew what an excellent singer she was. More so, I knew of her love for Jesus and her passion for Jesus.
Unemployed and short on money that month, come that Monday, I realized I would be willing to spend my last ten dollars to attend. Knowing there was a possibility the concert could be sold out, with much motivation I drove there in the afternoon with the hope of securing a ticket. Then I planned to return home to eat dinner before the performance.
Entering the large church, the first person I talked with was a woman who was in charge of overseeing the concert. Within our conversation, I told her I had been the youth minister for over two years at a church nearby. I also told her I was unemployed and yet doing volunteer youth ministry work at that same church. The woman invited me to join the “altar-call” team for that evening since she was short staffed. Telling her I would be blessed to be on that team, I then explained I was really hungry due to my light lunch, thus I needed to go home and have dinner. The next thing I knew, I was in the gym where there were a few tables set up, and on one table was a buffet dinner. The dinner was for band members and volunteer staff members.
I note that after dinner, David Smallbone, Rebecca’s dad, gave a devotional talk. He was passionate about our need to rely on Christ.
What happened during the course of the rest of that evening was surreal for several reasons. I will spare you the many details of my very full and overwhelming occasion. Yet I do tell that a personal highlight was a brief talk with Rebecca St. James long after the concert.
Yet the point I share today: That very night, Rebecca carried out her incredible ministry work of a caring evangelist, just as she has over the course of many years into the present time.
Now Rebecca has been known for advocating many wonderful causes, such as her relentless encouragement to teenagers to wait to participate in sexual relations until marriage. Yet she has carried out the work of an evangelist for years, a ministry basic which is always needed.
Near the end of the concert, in her utterly genuine manner, Rebecca told of the need for a person to give her or his heart to Jesus. After her talk, she gave an invitation for people to turn to Christ right then and there. Then she invited anyone wishing to give her or his life to Christ to come forward for a prayer. 121 people went forward! Many of those people were teenagers.
After the prayer, she told the folks they could go back to their seats if they wanted, otherwise, she encouraged those folks to go out to a side area next to the sanctuary, telling them that team members would be there to answer any questions anyone had about following Jesus. Many teenagers did go to that area, led by us folks on the altar-call team. An organizer had everyone sit on the floor in small groups with at least one alter-call team member in each group. My small group, consisting of all teenage young men, had a short but nice discussion. We closed with a prayer, and then each person was given a free booklet written by Rebecca St. James.
The entire altar-call procedure was extremely well planned and well implemented. I was honored to be a part.
And I still have the album Rebecca gave me as a gift for being on that team. She signed it, and she wrote “Psalm 121.”
Rebecca St. James has made an eternal difference with her ministry work, because at age eight she gave her heart to Jesus, and since that time she has carried out her mission as a disciple of Christ using her gift as an evangelist.
Evangelist is a word which has often been spoiled with a negative connotation. You longtime readers of Scripture Love Blog know that linguistics is not my gift at all. Yet years ago I started thinking about the beauty of this word, which means “bringer of good news.” Within the word is “angel.” And the word angel denotes “messenger,” or “one who announces.” Angels give messages from heaven. Evangelists tell the Gospel, the “good news” of Jesus Christ.
And being an evangelist is a spiritual gift, as stated in Ephesians 4:11.
The music ministry of Rebecca St. James has blessed countless people. Personally, she is my favorite musical artist of all time. May we followers of Jesus be encouraged by Rebecca to carry on using our spiritual gifts with a loving passion. An eternal difference will continue to be the result.
Hunter Irvine
