He said he was extremely tormented with a flood of questions that came into his mind straight from the pit: Where is this leading? There is some terrible sin in your life. You're just not a person the Lord can really bless. You're on a dead end route. You're on a collision course with meaninglessness. These are the kinds of uncertainties that flooded his mind.
As he was walking along the beach one day, trying to unravel this twisted circumstance, he ran into an old buddy whom he hadn't seen in years. Soon, they were sitting in the sand, and Kennedy was baring his soul to his friend, telling how Christ had called him into the ministry, even though it didn't seem to be working out. His friend listened rather pensively. There was little response in his face. Kennedy thought that his friend was being turned off, or was just bored. He thought that, perhaps, he erred in opening up about all of his troubles. Sensing this as he talked, he brought the story to quick close. His friend looked at him and said, "I need Christ. My circumstances are far worse, and only the Lord Jesus can help me. I need to receive Christ."
Advertisement
Kennedy said, "You do?" He could not believe that anyone could be changed through his little testimony, which was not very spectacular. However, in the course of sharing with his friend, he had told him how he had come to know Christ, and the joy that he had in the Lord, despite the fact that his ministry was just not getting off the ground. Unknown to Kennedy, the Holy Spirit used his testimony and pushed all the right buttons in his friend's heart. Then, right there on the beach, Kennedy's friend bowed his head, prayed the sinner's prayer, and was gloriously saved. He became a new creature in Christ and joined Kennedy's church.
A thought went through Kennedy's head: "If enough people responded personally to the claims of Christ, the church would not only grow numerically, but also in the vitality and programs because young believers must be nurtured. When Christ becomes the center of a person's life, then the church becomes the center of their activity."
So he wrote down exactly what he had shared with his friend on the beach, published it in a little pamphlet, and shared it with another person. That person made a decision, then another, and then another. Then he took a couple of laymen and trained them. They started sharing their faith, and God brought the increase! The contagion caught on, and it all got written down. Personal evangelism became the center of church programming. After 24 years, Coral Ridge Presbyterian has grown from seventeen members to fifteen thousand! That is the kind of story we like, and the kind of success every pastor covets. It really happened.