Evangelism is best done in the context of a relationship. In North America, high school and college graduates often gather years later for reunions. High school is where many people shared first times: first date, first kiss, first car, first job, and many other “first” life experiences (good and bad). This short period of life seems to bond people together, and Hollywood has made many movies about this unique bond.
Ted Adomanis, a missionary with Assist Church eXpansion, believes that in this age of social media, we should use every relationship we have to tell people about Jesus.
He shares, “People who have not connected in decades suddenly want to reconnect with friends they shared those teen years with. Mid-lifers who are beginning to ask, ‘What’s it all about?’ Questions involving marital issues, child and grandchild issues, addictions, suicide, death, and more surface at high school reunions. These questions deserve a spiritual response.”
Adomanis has helped launch a pilot site to help start spiritual conversations: MyHSstory.com. Using his high school, he believes this concept has the potential of reaching more than 26,000 public secondary schools and 11,000 private secondary schools. Adomanis says the HS stands for both High School and the Holy Spirit.
“Our vision is to create a national website, similar to IAMSECOND.com, where unbelieving classmates could watch the very friends they grew up with share how they found Jesus during or after high school and the impact Jesus has had on their lives,” says Adomanis. “I want to create a network of churches who are willing to have any believer come to their church and record their HS story. And I’d like to start that network in the Charis Fellowship.”
The video tech would simply upload the raw video to a Dropbox for our My HS Story editing team. The edited story would be posted on a page for that particular high school.
“The benefit to the church is that people who live in their community would visit their church to record such a testimony, possibly making a connection,” says Adomanis. “The church would be assisting believers in evangelism and participating in spreading the Gospel nationally. The person sharing their HS story benefits by learning a valuable lesson in telling their Jesus story. This is something many Christians today don’t share because they either don’t know how or are afraid to share.”
[Connect:]
For more information on how you can participate, visit MyHSstory.com and click on Contact Us. Click here to send a note of encouragement to Ted Adomanis.
This story first appeared in GraceConnect eNews. To subscribe to the weekly e-newsletter that includes news and information from congregations in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, click here.