MY DAD

On September 25, 2012 by Bobby Blakey

Sometimes people tell me that they don’t believe in street evangelism.  I have heard them say that it is impersonal and not very polite.  It has been called ineffective.

I like to tell them the story of my dad.

In 1974, my dad was a freshman at USC.  One day he was sitting at the Tommy Trojan statue in the middle of campus.  Two men approached my dad that he did not know.  They began to tell him about Jesus Christ.  Even though my dad had grown up in Southern California and was now in college he had never heard the gospel before.  But the men made it clear to him:

“If you become a Christian today, from now on Jesus will call the shots in your life.” 

By the end of that one conversation, my dad repented of his sins and put his faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He met a new Christian friend who discipled him every day.  He began to go to Grace Community Church where John MacArthur was pastor. He met my mom at a Christian group there at USC.

That part is pretty personal for me… And for my two younger brothers.  We wouldn’t be here today if my dad hadn’t become a Christian and met my mom.

The three of us grew up in a house where Dad read the Bible to us every night.  He disciplined us when we sinned.  Eventually, my dad began going to seminary to become a pastor.  He moved our family to San Antonio, Texas where he has faithfully led his congregation at Believers Fellowship for many years now.  He even served as a pastor at Grace Community Church with John MacArthur for a couple of years.

All three of us brothers are now in the ministry working full-time at churches.  We love the Bible.  We have a passion to preach it to God’s people.  The story of my father has become the story of his three sons.

While I am writing this tonight, my dad is in Russia.  He called me the other day when he was leaving and I asked if it was an international phone call.  He said, “Well, I am here in Houston, is that close enough?”  We both laughed.

My dad began telling me how he would be speaking to 85 pastors in Russia.  He was going to teach them as much about preaching as he could in one week.  Each night he would preach a sermon they would probably take back to their churches and re-preach to who knows how many people.  As my dad talked, I could hear the excitement in his voice.

I would like for someone to get on a plane and go try to tell those 85 Russian pastors that street evangelism is ineffective.

I would like for them to try to tell my mom and my brothers and me that it is not polite.

I would like them to try and say that those two men at USC were wasting their lunch time 38 years ago.

But it is clear to me that God works through evangelism to save people.  And he uses his saved people to save others.  It is an epic series of conversations that leads all the way back to Jesus Christ himself saying we will be his witnesses to the end of the earth.

You can dismiss this as the story of my dad.  You can write it off as a personal experience.  Or you can look at it like I do.  This is an example of Scripture applied.

Romans 10:14-15

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

I thank God he sent those two men to talk to my dad on that day.  It gives me a passion to evangelize others.  Sometimes I wonder whose dad I might be talking to…

13 Responses to “MY DAD”

  • It’s amazing how God works through evangelism!

    These posts are great! Keep them up. Love reading them.

  • andee quist

    Recognizing the far reaching, exponential implications one convo can have is both mind blowing and motivating to go have that conversation! Great blog, pastor bobby! Question: does your dad still know/ talk to either of those two men? Just curious

  • Cheryl Bruner

    Thank you so much for sharing! Your parents are both such blessings to me and our whole church! We are thankful.

  • Stacy Petersen

    I. Love. This.

    Every time I hear this account I am urged to give the Gospel more-and more unabashedly. I’m excited to see who’s next that God might use me to seek out and save.

  • Sharon

    Praising God to the 2 men that shared the Gospel with your Dad! Look how it has trickled down into True North!!!!

  • Holly

    Praise God for their faithfulness to street evangelize and to hear how God has used it in so many areas of your fathers life, and others lives as well! Ultimately, your fathers life is saved from hell!! But on top of that, he meets and marries your Christian mom and they have children that are raised knowing the true God and who are now Preachers themselves, helping to advance the Kingdom of God for His glory!!
    Thank you for sharing this…..
    Do you remember the guest speaker who came to our church a while back and shared a street evangelist story? I remember how it ended but forget some of the details…. (Please correct me where I am wrong)
    Ultimately this street evangelist was telling people on a college campus about the Gospel. There was a man who heard it and did not initially receive it. Some time passed, something like 35 years, and the man who was speaking at our church received a phone call. It was from the guy who had heard the gospel 35 years prior. He was telling this man that he is now a Christian and how he never forgot what was said that day at campus.
    Gods Word is Power!

  • Sam Cammarano

    We all became Christians because the Lord caused someone to be obedient and tell us about Christ and the Gospel. The greatest thing we can do is to do the same.

  • Dee Escobedo

    You are a very blessed young man. Your father’s faithfullness in bringing God’s truth to us every week, is a continued testimony to the work God has done in his own personal life. Revelation 17:14 “And they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

  • Ron Minor

    Right on, Brother! Bring IT!

  • Jeremy Watkins

    This post was very encouraging!

  • Taylor Thompson

    It always amazes me to see what, how and who God uses to save someone and the effect it causes. Praise the Lord

  • Hunter Adamske

    Encouraging post Pastor Bobby to preach the good news!

  • Debbie K. Maxwell

    Loved reading this; so encouraging.

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