I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (John 17:14-15)

When I was in college my friends and I were part of Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU). We’d go on campus 2×2 and use a small booklet called “The Four Spiritual Laws” to evangelize (i.e., ambush) unsuspecting students and in the course of a 10- to 15-minute conversation, try to convince them to pray the Sinner’s Prayer.

It was terrifying to walk up to complete strangers and ask them the question, “If you died tonight, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?” From there, we would walk them through the booklet, which was basically the Gospel message in an illustrated, compact tract. Usually we’d politely be told to go take a long walk on a short pier. One time, however, much to my great surprise, a male student said, “I’ve been praying for God to show me a sign that He’s real—and then you show up.”