A woman was asked by a co-worker, “What is it like to be a Christian?”

The co-worker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.”

Quoted from net153.com email list

Billy Graham was once asked why, at the close of his message, he asks people to get out of their seat and walk to the front of the platform for prayer. He responded, “There is something about making a public confession that seals it in your heart, confirms it to your friends, and makes it much easier to live the life you have openly proclaimed.”

“One evening in 1934 in a place called Charlotte in North Carolina there was a real, old style, tent meeting evangelistic mission in progress. This was something in the tradition of all those mission preachers who had travelled over middle and western America since the middle of the last century. On this occasion the missioner was a man called Fowler Ham, who had been brought over from Louisville to inspire in the farming people a Christian message in the midst of the great depression they were going through.

The tent and the speakers platform were actually situated on a farm belonging to a man called Frank Graham. The setting was as rude as the rhetoric which came from the plank-floored platform; even the aisles were covered with sawdust to lay the mud which these farming people had brought in from the fields. And yet, night after night throughout the mission people packed in, often more than five thousand at a time, filling every seat. The tent had open walls so that the people could bring boxes and sit on the edge of the crowd, listening.

Among them was a teenage boy, the son of the farmer who owned the farm where the mission was taking place. He had not at first thought much of the mission until he heard the preacher take out his text, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that who-so-ever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life’. Somehow this got under the skin of the young man and made him think. The next night he turned up again with a friend. The preacher, in his usual dramatic manner, started off by suddenly announcing, ‘there is a great sinner in this place tonight’. It was quite a usual ploy with him; he did it every night. On this occasion the words reached right into the soul of the teenage boy listening, so much so that, at the end of the meeting when members of the audience were invited to go forward and make themselves known as those who accepted God and Christ, the young man turned to his friend suddenly and said, ‘let’s go’. So they did and Billy Graham was converted. The most successful evangelist of the twentieth century from that moment began a career which has had no looking back. When he spoke about it afterwards, when he was famous worldwide, Billy Graham said ‘It was as simple as that, and as conclusive. There were no tears, no blazing voices, no gift of tongues. Have you ever been outdoors one day when the sun suddenly breaks through the clouds? Deep inside, that is how I felt, The next day, I am sure I looked the same. But to me everything looked different. I was finding out for the first time the sweetness and joy of God, and being truly born again’.

Billy Graham 1500 Illustration For Preaching & Teaching p453-454

“Albert McMakin was a twenty-four-year-old farmer who had recently come to faith in Christ. He was so full of enthusiasm that he filled a truck with people and took them to a meeting to hear about Jesus. There was a good looking farmer’s son whom he was especially keen to get to a meeting, but this young man was hard to persuade – he was busy falling in and out of love with different girls, and did not seem to be attracted to Christianity. Eventually, Albert McMakin managed to persuade him to come by asking him to drive the truck. When they arrived, Albert’s guest decided to go in and was ‘spellbound’ and began to have thoughts he had never known before. He went back again and again until one night he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ. That man, the driver of the truck, was Billy Graham. The year was 1934. Since then Billy Graham has led thousands to faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot all be like Billy Graham, but we can all be like Albert McMakin – we can all bring our friends to Jesus.”

Questions of Life, Nicky Gumble, p195-196

Hawa Ahmed was a Muslim student in North Africa. One day, she read a Christian tract in her dormitory and decided to become a Christian. Her father was an Emir (Islamic ruler), so she expected to lose her inheritance because of her conversion. She was completely unprepared for what happened. When she told her family she had become a Christian and changed her name to Faith, her father exploded in rage. Her father and brothers stripped her naked and bound her to a chair fixed to a metal plate with which they wanted to electrocute her. Faith asked them to at least lay a Bible in her lap. Her father responded, “If you want to die together with your false religion, so be it.” One of her brothers added, “That will show that your religion is powerless.” Although they had bound her, she was able to touch a corner of the Bible. She felt a strange peace, as though someone were standing beside her. Her father and brothers pushed the plug into the socket–and nothing happened. They tried four times with various cables, but it was as though the electricity refused to flow. Finally her father, angry and frustrated, hit her and screamed, “You are no longer my daughter.”

Then he threw her into the street, naked. She ran through the streets, humiliated and in pain. People looked at her, curious rather than shocked. Shaking and tearful, she ran to a friend. Her friend let her in, clothed her, and gave her shelter. The next day, her friend asked neighbours what they had thought when they had seen Faith running naked through the streets. “What are you talking about?” they asked. “The girl had a wonderful white dress on. We asked ourselves why someone so beautifully clothed had to run through the streets.” God had hidden her nakedness from their eyes, clothing her in a beautiful white dress. Today, Faith is a full-time evangelist with Every Home for Christ.

Guido Kuwas, “Global Revival News” (12-17-01); From the PreachingToday.com email list submitted by Owen Bourgaize, Guernsey, United Kingdom