“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
John 4:3
In the story of the woman at the well in the 4th chapter of John, Jesus encounters a woman at a certain well and through the course of their conversation, he reveals that he is the Messiah that the Jews had long waited for. He addresses many things about her own private life – things which are intimate to her, things which no stranger at a well could possibly know. Not only that, but he offers her a new way of living and a new way of understanding her faith in the God she had learned about since childhood. The encounter with Jesus amazes the woman so much that she returns to her village where she tells every person she sees all that had happened. And many in that town believed in Jesus because of her testimony.
Of course, there is much more to this story, but at the moment I am struck by the power of a testimony. This woman met Jesus and her life was changed forever; that alone is worthy of celebration. However, it didn’t stop there, the townspeople to whom she’d later tell the story would also believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and their lives would be changed as well. It reminds me of the importance of sharing our stories with one another. As people who believe and find hope in our amazing God, we must be ready and willing to share what God has done in our own lives. For perhaps God did something in our lives not only for our sake, but also for the sake of others, who will be hearers of the story.
I am a part of a band called NLM. NLM’s purpose is to play shows in secular places in order to share the Gospel where it might otherwise never be heard. It’s really a punk rock idea.. We go to places where nobody expects to find Jesus, so that they might find Jesus. Sometimes people hear what we have to say and they are deeply moved by it and want to know more. But there are certainly other times when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive, and there can be hostility. Recently we had a tour in Brazil, where we experienced some of that hostility.
The first half of the tour was exactly what we hoped for. We were doing shows with Brazilian secular bands and large crowds were turning out. And after each show, several people would find their faith in God. But about halfway through the tour, we experienced a serious setback.
One of the secular bands that we were playing with did not appreciate that we were publicly preaching the Gospel. This band is particularly popular in Brazil, so when a few of their hostile Tweets went viral, our band became the center of a Brazilian music scene controversy. The hostility grew, then the venues and bands of our upcoming shows all canceled. There was nothing we could do. It was very upsetting and it felt like a great defeat. We had planned so much and worked so hard to make this tour happen. But now because of some viral Tweets, we were getting shut down, and fewer people would be hearing the Gospel.
Or, so we thought…
It should not have been a surprise to us, but God had another plan that was already in motion. We were right in the middle of redemption but we didn’t know it yet. A couple days after the cancellation of our tour, we received a very unlikely message from the Rolling Stone Magazine of Brazil. They had become aware of our controversial punk-rock-Jesus-band, and they wanted to publish a story on us! We gladly agreed. Not long after that, Ben Pierce, our fearless leader, was doing an interview with the Rolling Stone.
In the interview, Ben had the chance to tell our side of the story and share the Gospel message. After the article was published, it gained so much attention that it was even on the front page of the Rolling Stone website for a while, and many read about Jesus. God turned our defeat into a great victory. God took what was meant for evil and turned it into good. Through this Rolling Stone article, more people have heard the Gospel than we know. Through this Rolling Stone article, God is glorified.
I treasure this story and I am so grateful for the experience. Never in my life has God ever seemed so near and so real. He moved in a huge way right before our eyes. He was there with us, he heard our prayers, and he did far more than what we asked for or imagined.
I had an encounter with God so powerful that it would be irresponsible not to share the story. This experience caused my faith to grow and I believe it will really shape my faith moving forward. And so just like the woman at the well, I am excited for the opportunity to share this testimony with you, and I pray it might inspire you also to keep drawing near to Jesus, the living God who is much nearer to us than we realize.