It was the Tuesday of Thanksgiving break. I’d just gotten off work and was heading down to campus to visit our Lord at the campus’ Newman Center.

As I walked up to the doors, I heard a voice shouting from the street: “IT’S CLOSED!”

Sure enough, as I pulled on the big steel door, I found it was locked. I turned around to see a couple guys I knew from the Newman Center in their car, stopped at a red light. One of them in particular had a beard that would make Grizzly Adams jealous. He was a FOCUS missionary, home for Thanksgiving break.

“COME HOP IN! WE’RE HEADING DOWNTOWN TO GRAB A BEER!” he shouted.

I respectfully declined, saying how I needed to make a holy hour and would probably go to another church.

“WE’LL PRAY AT THE BAR!” the bearded missionary shouted back. “GET IN THE CAR!”

He didn’t need to twist my arm anymore. I jumped in.

At the bar, I shared with the bearded man how grad school and my job were going. Afterward, I asked him how he liked FOCUS and what it was like being a missionary. He proceeded to explain to me what FOCUS was doing within the Church in our country and how he truly believed that FOCUS was going to change the world.

As I listened, I was captivated by his genuine excitement. I was intrigued by the idea we could change the world through the college campus.

I remember driving home conversing with God, saying, “I was going to visit You in adoration, but instead I went and grabbed a beer — and now I can’t stop thinking about the possibility of serving You through FOCUS!”

I prayed and wrestled with this idea for a couple months. I checked out the online application, partially filling it out and then closing it. All the while, the Lord was that quiet voice in the back of my mind, asking me to come and see. I eventually finished the application and attended a recruitment weekend.

My life was rocked.

From the world’s point of view, leaving a graduate program and working for FOCUS didn’t make any sense. But I knew that’s where God was calling me because my decision was accompanied by peace.

When I was in college, I got wrapped up in Greek life party scene, chasing after things that I thought would make me happy — but they didn’t. After having an encounter with Christ through prayer and a friend who invested in me towards the end of college, I was more open to listening to Jesus speak.

He knew just how to speak straight to my heart. God spoke to me through another person doing something that I was all too familiar with from college: having a beer. This missionary simply shared the gospel on a level that I was able to hear it. He stirred the call from my baptism to make disciples of all nations.

How might God be working through others to speak to you?

Come discern with us!

Spring 2017 Recruitment Weekends

Charlotte, NC: March 31-April 2 (Application Deadline: March 17)

Denver, CO: April 7-9 (Application Deadline: March 24)

*We are no longer accepting female applications for Spring 2017. These are men only recruitment weekends.