|
|
As a student at Carson-Newman College and for a short while after graduation, I would frequently go to Carson-Newman's football stadium where I would climb to the top of the bleachers and sit looking out across the East Tennessee mountains. This was my sanctuary — my retreat from everyone and everything — where I and God had alot of our conversations.
On one such occasion in October of 2003 I began reading over the Ten Commandments. Even though I had accepted Christ at the age of 5 and had lived the "good" Christian life, I knew I was far from perfect. On that cool October day, I examined my life in the light of God's ten perfect laws. God's Word revealed to me how utterly sinful I really was. To put it simply, I was humbled; I was broken. As a matter of fact, I was so broken that I returned to my apartment, locked myself in and fasted for a week. I didn't fast because I was trying to be holy or what not. Rather, I fasted and spent that week in seclusion for the exact opposite; I felt disgusting and dirty.
The following Sunday, I returned to church where I was greeted by the pastor and asked to fill in behind the pulpit the upcoming Sunday. I felt as if I just came through an experience much like that of Isaiah and that God just touched my lips with a hot coal enabling me to speak. I had preached a few times prior to that following Sunday, but they were always the "heady," three-point sermons that are common in many of our churches today. However, after my "Isaiah experience," I now spoke with passion and conviction.
In that week, I felt God's call to minister to the lost on the streets. I now had a passion.
Approximately a year later, I was praying about what I would call the ministry. I prayed for a few days, but nothing came to mind. One morning I woke up and began praying Psalm 63. This was my prayer:
Dear God,
Feed my hunger for you with more hunger; feed my thirst for you with more thirst. Father, make me hunger and thirst after you; give me an unquenchable longing for you. Lord, Starve me for you. God, starve me to death...no wait...
Starve Me to Life
- October 27, 2004
This ministry has three simple objectives and are founded on those same Ten Commandments that humbled me that day in October:
- Love God
"Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your sould and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30) My life verse is 1 Chronicles 22:19a, "Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God..." That is what I do everyday — seek the Lord will all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
- Love People
"Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31) Loving God means being passionate for those things that He is passionate about — people. God loves people. Starve Me to Life seeks to be a vessel in which God can manifest that love to His people.
- Love Bringing God and People Together
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16,17)
Our mission statement is quite simple:
To see 6 Billion people come to know Jesus Christ.
Not only is it my calling and my burden, but it is the passion of my heart.
The message that I bring to the streets is not only a message of salvation, but a message of redemption, freedom from addictions, hope for the downcast and love for the alien, fatherless and widow. I seek to bring joy and light to a hurting and dark community.
From my heart, thank you for visiting my website and reading about the amazing things God is doing through my evangelism ministry.
Grace and Peace,
Smiley
|